Kiseki
by ArgentumVulpes
Summary: A man uses an unknown jutsu on Sasuke and Naruto, but they have no idea what the effects are or what they should be. Eventually they find out, and the world seems to turn upside down. SasuNaru. mpreg. yaoi. Sequel to Kodomotachi
1. Chapter 1: The Cause

**Part IIa: Kiseki**

This part takes place about two years after the story Kodomotachi. A man uses an unknown jutsu on Sasuke and Naruto, but they have no idea what the effects are or what they should be. Eventually they find out and the world seems to turn upside down.

I have to warn you that this story contains yaoi and mpreg.

I advise you to read Kodomotachi until at least chapter 7, so you won't find too many surprises in this story that you will not understand, but of course, that's all up to you. I also have to add that whatever happens after chapter 7 in Kodomotachi might not have happened, or not appear to have happened, in this story because (most of) this has been written before I was further than that in Kodomotachi. Though there might be some hints.

You can decide for yourself if the two stories are related or not; let your own imagination do a little work as well. That's the reason why I call this a side story (part IIa).

And on a last note: officially I've already finished this story at chapter 14. Unofficially I might change my mind and add some extra chapters whenever I feel like it. ^^

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

-oXo-

_**Chapter 1: The cause**_

_18__th__ of October_

They had already been on this mission for two weeks! Sakura was tired of it. A kunai slipped past her left ear and she ducked, watching how a man with hair as black as coal, tied into a low ponytail grinned at her. His cold grey eyes and the scar running across his face, from one cheek over the bridge of his nose to his forehead, didn't make her get any sympathy for this freak.

It had been pure luck that they had run into the man, who liked to be called doctor, and immediately Sakura had understood why he had been so difficult to catch. He threw jutsu after jutsu at them, all his knowledge of the human body and more. Dark jutsus, jutsus Sakura would never even have dared thinking of.

He was very sneaky and secretive, but then ninja from his country had spotted him near Konoha. Team Kakashi had been called to handle things along with the Hidden Grass ninja.

Sakura suddenly wondered why it had been just them that Tsunade had appointed to this mission.

As the reports she'd read about him flashed through her head, her fists tightened more and more. Pictures of mutilated children, of grown-up man crying, begging to be killed, and bodies cut open while still being alive. This doctor they were fighting was some madman that liked to test his new jutsus on humans.

Her fist moved before she could stop herself, and she hit the man on his hip. The hit made an awful breaking sound while she felt bone crumble under her fist before the man was blown away from her.

Sakura was tired. She wanted this man… did she actually wanted him dead? She wasn't sure, but part of her truly wished he would die right here and right now. Though another part of her told her he had to pay for what he'd done.

She wanted this mission to be over and go home, forget all about it. Perhaps have something to eat with her team, before a good night of sleep.

Her eyes lowered over the ground she had just stepped on and realized a little too late why she shouldn't have gone out to beat that man up. The ground was littered with explosive tags, and she had stepped right onto them. She lowered through her knees, ready to jump away, hoping she could make it, when two warm hands wrapped around her waist. She let the familiar feeling run through her while the person behind her pulled her away.

From a distance she watched how the explosives went off, and she was sure she would not have gotten out of it without severe burns to at the very least her legs. Until she realized the explosive probably had more to them than just bombs as a slight green mist drifted off from the same area.

The hands let go of her.

"Thanks," she said, turning to the man that stepped next to her. Between his bright yellow spikes stuck out two black fox ears, turning to every sound they picked up. The face showed two bright blue eyes, kindly smiling at her as the whisker marks on his cheeks moved along with the grin. A soft red tail with a white tip swished behind his back.

"Be careful Sakura-chan," Naruto said. "But that sure was a nice hit." He held up a thumb to her.

Sakura couldn't help but smile back before she moved away from him, dodging a few more kunai. She landed three meters from Sasuke's right, and noticed Kakashi was to his left, standing back. The two were preparing a jutsu.

Naruto slipped to a halt a little behind Sasuke, his tail madly swishing while he moved the back of his hand over his mouth. Blood covered his hand, but as soon as he lowered the hand, the cut lip had already healed. He whispered something to the tall dark raven while the Uchiha went to a series of hand signs, similar to those of their sensei.

Yet it seemed that the doctor had different plans. It was clear he saw he was losing, and that he started to get desperate. He got out a syringe and held it to his hip, only to realize it was empty. He swore loudly while he couldn't keep his weight, and fell down to his knees.

Sasuke and Kakashi finished their jutsu and held their hands to the side, electricity blazing around their right arm. Sakura, her kunai in hand, still on guard noticed something before the others did. The doctor was smiling.

"Wait!" she yelled at Sasuke and Kakashi, feeling something ominous coming from their opponent, but her words had not been necessary.

Naruto stepped forward, closer to Sasuke, before he needed to close his eyes.

A bright light shot from the doctor's hands through the round shaped seal he had made.

The light was fast, faster than any of them had expected. There was no time to react, no time to even think. It was like time had stopped or even that the jutsu went back through time; that it had happened seconds before they had seen it happen. The light was too bright, but it was clear that a yet of light shot out like a laser and hit Sasuke first. It hit him right in the abdomen, but his body didn't stop it. The light went right through Sasuke and hit Naruto, who had been standing behind him, in the belly. Again the light did not stop there, and went straight through Naruto.

Sasuke arched his back in pain as the light hit him, and Naruto doubled over toward Sasuke, moved against his back. The light intensified and was so blinding that it could not be seen what happened. The light that went left Naruto's body, though, was small and quickly died down into nothing.

This all lasted less than a second, and as soon as the light had died down, Sasuke fell on his hands and knees, shaking violently while Naruto collapsed on top of him; the suddenly heavy weight of the light blond, slumping unconsciously over his back, making him double over as well.

Before any of team Kakashi could realize what had happened, or even have taken in its effect, the doctor made a new hand sign, but this time directed it toward Sakura. Sakura ducked away, knowing that once more a jutsu might hit before she could even protect herself, while Kakashi put his palms to the ground.

Lightning shot from his hands and shot toward the man, ripping open the ground as it made its way toward the man.

Cool grey eyes widened right before a red light lit up the area, originating from his hands. Then a soft explosion sounded and the light of the lightning and the red from the doctor's seal made them squeeze their eyes once more. This lime the light wasn't as bright and both Kakashi and Sakura saw how the jutsu of the doctor backfired.

When the light dispersed the doctor fell screaming to the ground. After a minute of clear agony he passed out.

Sakura stared at him in shock until the man fell silent, and she quickly hurried to Naruto and Sasuke. Kakashi jumped to the madman and found out he was out cold.

Sakura landed next to her two teammates and moved Naruto away from Sasuke, rolling the blond onto his back. Sasuke was growling in pain, so Sakura quickly turned to him after checking Naruto's pulse. She helped him sit on all fours, and was about to make him lay on his back when Kakashi came over to them. Sakura glanced over to Naruto, who stirred and turned her attention to him instead.

Sasuke gagged before he began to vomit, heavily shaking. Kakashi sat down on his haunches beside the raven and steadied him, preventing him from falling over in his own vomit.

"Wh-what w-was that?" Sasuke asked shakily, rubbing his mouth off on his sleeve.

Sakura pulled Naruto up next to Sasuke and Kakashi and started slapping his face, which made Sasuke and Kakashi look around at her.

When Sakura stopped her slapping and turned her head around, only to meet dark angry eyes from a certain raven, she explained to him what she had been doing. "He seems fine except for the fact that I can't wake him up," she told them after a while. Naruto seemed to be in a deep sleep. Not a coma, he was just sleeping.

Sasuke stared at her and Naruto for a while longer, seeing Sakura kneel beside him with Naruto heaved up on her arms, but quickly turned his head away, just in time, and began throwing up again. He was heavily transpiring and shaking like he had a fever. He was cold and his body was tingling. He felt weak, had no power to control his bodily functions, and felt ill. He leant further into Kakashi's arms, no longer caring about not being able to keep his own weight up and gave in to the sleep spreading over him. Just as Naruto, he decided to close his eyes, and he finally he lost consciousness as well.

Kakashi looked up to Sakura, and saw his own concern reflected in her green eyes.

-x-

Sasuke opened his eyes. He was lying on the hard ground, feeling rather cold. He shivered and turned his head slowly to the side. There he saw Naruto lying right next to him, breathing slowly. The blond looked like he was sleeping soundly except for the small grunting sounds he made every now and then, even though he didn't seem to be in any pain.

Sasuke rolled his head to the other side and saw Kakashi's silhouette against the fire. Sakura had her side to him, and looked as if she was about to fall asleep, her head nodding. Against a tree opposite of Sakura, so that she could face him, sat the doctor limply leaning against the trunk. He was tied up. Unlike Naruto, he certainly was in pain. He was twitching and giving soft moans and groans of pain. His face was dark and he breathed harshly. Sweat tickled down his cheek toward his chin.

Sasuke tried to sit up, shivering feeling ill, but nonetheless managed to get up.

Kakashi turned around to face him when he sensed the movement to his right. Sakura shot up suddenly, standing on her feet and looking around as if ready for an attack. She soon noticed how Kakashi was watching a conscious Sasuke, and feeling relieved, she walked over to him.

"Here, drink this," she said as she gave him a flask with water. Sasuke took it, shivering all the while, trying to tighten the blanket around him. Sakura felt his forehead, stroking some hair away. He felt very warm.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she fumbled in her medic bag and finally took out a small light.

"Cold and dizzy," Sasuke confessed.

Sakura shone the light in his eyes and he moved away from her, almost falling over as he lost his balance. Sakura held him firmly at his arm.

"Do you feel any pain?" she asked, shining the light in his pupils ones more. "No matter how small," she added, knowing him well.

Sasuke frowned, wanting her to move the annoying light away and brushed her hand away from his face. "No..." he said, but her intense stare made him reconsider his words. "Perhaps… perhaps some cramps in my abdomen and-" He suddenly stopped his sentence.

Sakura's eyes lowered over Sasuke's covered torso, wrapped in the blanket and hidden from view. "There where the light hit," she suggested.

Sasuke looked away from her and gave her a short nod.

"Do your groin area's hurt as well?" She looked him straight in the face, watching him.

Sasuke looked up to her. "Yes and my hips ache a little, but nothing serious." He sighed. "Nothing serious," he added annoyed, wanting her to let him sleep some more, but he knew she was just being thorough. She was a medical ninja after all. It was her job to question him.

"Of course," she answered while her hands tried to find a way under the blanket. "It seems like you're running a fever. Do the pains feel like stabbing pains, continuous pains or like muscle cramps or...?" She let Sasuke decide while she found his chest.

Sasuke tensed up ever so slightly at the touch of her searching hand as they lowered over his front. He finally lowered the blanket, hoping she would leave him be if she saw how cold he was. "Stabbing at times but not really painful, more like muscle cramps... annoying." He looked up toward Kakashi before his eyes moved to the blond beside him. He started to shiver and even more so when Sakura pulled up his shirt. "Do you have an extra blanket or something?" he muttered.

Sakura pitied him a bit as he cutely shivered and looked at her with his red cheeks and dark eyes. She almost smiled, but she knew better than to do that. She finished moving her glowing hands over his abdomen and he quickly wrapped the blanket closely around him. "I'm sorry. For the time being you'll have to do with curling up to Naruto. I can only give you his blanket." She pointed to the moaning man behind her.

Sasuke nodded and lay down while Sakura took the blanket away from the doctor and handed it to the shivering raven. Sasuke tried to snuggle closer to his ever warm Naruto. Naruto was working way better than any of the blankets wrapped around him. Naruto was nice and warm, not too hot or sweaty, not too cold or clammy; just right. Sasuke laid his arm around Naruto's waist, moving it under the dark shirt he was wearing, which earned him a moan. He loosened his grip immediately. Apparently this area was sensitive to Naruto as well.

At the end of the day they reached Konoha, and Sasuke was given another check-up. Yet nothing interesting was found; he seemed fine except for the fever. So he was ordered to get some rest and stay in bed until his fever was down. Naruto, however, still hadn't woken up, so he was held at the hospital just to be sure.

Sasuke stepped into the bed beside Naruto, somehow not feeling all that angry about staying the night in the hospital when Naruto was joining him.

With a final glance at the sleeping blond he closed his eyes and immediately drifted off.

-X-

His eyes were set on the blond locks that fell over Naruto's face. He had been staring at them for so long that he was about to set them on fire.

Sauske sighed and finally took his eyes off the blond, the first time since he had arrived here beside his bed that morning. His shoulders slumped and he turned to look out the window.

It had been two weeks since he had been dismissed from the hospital, only a few days after entering. Yet it was like he had never been discharged since he was still so often at the hospital that it seemed he was still admitted; especially because he was still ill. The pains had subsided, but he was still cold all the time, and sweated even at doing the smallest of things. He tired very quickly.

Currently he wore a thick sweater and had a blanket around him as he sat at Naruto's bedside.

The blond still hadn't woken up even once. Tsunade had said he was asleep, almost similar to a coma as he wouldn't wake up, but he showed all the signs of someone sleeping.

The mad doctor hadn't been of any help since he _had_ actually gotten himself into a coma. They knew next to nothing about the jutsu he had cast upon Sasuke and Naruto or the one he had accidentally set on himself due to Kakashi's jutsu interfering. And since both Naruto and Sasuke showed no real physical change from before or being in life threatening situations, they could only presume the jutsu was either designed to put someone at a deep sleep or give them a fever _or,_ like his other jutsu, failed to work.

Sasuke would just sit staring at Naruto for a while, lay down next to him or read a book. After the visiting hour in the afternoon was over he would finally return home, and go to bed.

Even though he wasn't looking like he had a fever anymore, he still felt lousy and exhausted just from walking from the hospital to the house.

Sasuke exhaled as he saw it was nearly time for him to go home. He stood up and looked down to Naruto.

"Wake up soon, dobe. It's too silent at home... and cold."

He took off the blanket, and after folding it neatly, laid it at the end of the bed. He would go and get Akira from the academy as he'd promised the other day.

-x-

As he stood waiting at the gates, leaning against a stone pillar of the gate, he tried not to look too exhausted.

The bell rang and soon children were running outside, happily screaming and chatting. Sasuke's eyes roamed over the children, looking for his own son. Soon he found the boy.

It wasn't hard to notice Akira between the other students. Akira stuck out above his classmates by at least seven centimetres. Unlike a year ago when he had been a bit small for his age, he had outgrown his peers and even kids from a year above him. He was tall and lean and his dark hair stood out as well as much as Sasuke's did.

Sasuke saw how a few girls looked admiringly at his son, and remembered his own academy years. But instead of ignoring the girls, like he had always done, Akira went to them, and happily chatted with them before noticing his father waiting at the gate.

"Tou-chan, look I got my report card!" He waved the card back and forth happily, proud of his grades. "Look, look!" Akira practically pushed the card in Sasuke's hands when he reached for it.

"I'll look at it at home," he said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was tired.

"Are you okay?" Akira asked softly, letting his father lower the card.

"Just let's go home." Sasuke turned away from the gate and started walking away.

"How's Naruto?" Akira asked as he grasped his father's hand.

Sasuke looked down. Akira normally didn't like to walk hand in hand, as he was still in the range of his friends, and they could see him in this embarrassing situation (he was at that certain age).

"Still sleeping," Sasuke answered curtly, folding his fingers around Akira's smaller hand, finding it held some comfort.

Akira had asked about Naruto every day as he got home. Sasuke had always answered the same curt response.

Akira glanced up. "Can we eat over at Sakura no oba-chan's? Because of my report card?" He added, looking down to the card still in Sasuke's hand.

Sasuke sighed, not out of annoyance, but out of habit and tiredness. "Sure, you can ask her when we pass her house. I believe she hasn't got any missions or hospital duty."

Akira smiled and nodded.

-x-

When they arrived home, Akira happily running through the house because they would go to Sakura later that day, Sasuke fell down on the couch. He held up the card to his face to take a look, but his eyelids were heavy as well as the card.

He shifted, letting the card rest on his chest, but still the card felt like led. He closed his eyes just for a moment, or so he had thought. Before he could even think about opening his eyes again, he had fallen asleep, the card resting in the hand on his chest.

When Akira entered the living room once more he saw his sleeping father. He was a bit disappointed that he hadn't even looked at his report before falling asleep. Sadly he went upstairs to get some shuriken to practice his throwing in the garden.

When Sasuke woke up a little later, he noticed it was already six. They were supposed to be at Sakura's at six. Grumbling he got up, and the card fell on the floor. He stopped halfway trying to get up and looked down at the forgotten card and reached for it. He picked it up and walked to the back of the room before he opened the sliding door to the porch.

"Akira? Come inside. What are you doing practicing shuriken in this cold?" He looked around the garden where he found a dark haired boy turn around his way, shuriken in hand.

Akira looked around to his father, panting a bit. The tree he had been throwing the shuriken to, was covered with the four-pointed objects.

"Oh, no we're late, aren't we?" Quickly he climbed up the porch.

Sasuke laid his hand on the smaller raven's head when he passed him, and directed him to the couch. Akira looked questioningly at his father, when he as directed toward the couch, and sat down at it after his father had done so as well.

"Since we're late anyway, I think I will have a look at your grades first." Sasuke grinned ever so slightly without looking away at his son.

A smile spread across Akira's face, and Sasuke couldn't help but make his own smiled a bit bigger as well. He didn't want to have the boy think he wasn't interested in his marks. Memories of his own parents came to mind.

He looked at the card and saw some very good grades. First of class and of his year in 'Senjutsu' and 'Individual'. 'Taijutsu': second of class and third of his year. 'Ninjutsu': second of class and of the year. 'Teamwork': third of class.

Sasuke was proud.

"You've got some fine grades there." Sasuke smiled at his son as he ruffled his hair.

"Hm," Akira blushed a bit.

"Keep up the good work."

A shy smile crept on Akira's face along with some blushes.

"Now, let's go before Sakura punches us back outside through the walls before we even have time to enter."

Akira stood up and hurried to the door. "Come on, tou-chan," he said as Sasuke slowly rose from the couch.

-oXo-

A/N: this chapter has been edited on 11-05-2014. I re-read it, and phew, it _needed_ an update :P


	2. Chapter 2: The Effect

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

I wasn't sure if it is clear, but in this story Naruto does have two good arms; because I hadn't thought up that part in Kodomotachi yet, where he loses his arm…

Note: this chapter was edited on 11-05-2014

-oXo-

_**Chapter 2: The effect**_

_4__th__ of November_

Sasuke sat at Naruto's bed once more. The sun was shining through the window on Naruto's bed and Sasuke's back had become nice and warm. His fever had luckily resided, and he was no longer cold all the time.

Tsunade entered the room just to check in on the blond.

"Ah, Sasuke," she said.

"Tsunade-sama." Sasuke gave a nod as he laid the report from his mission away.

Tsunade straightened the covers that lay over Naruto, almost in an automatic and motherly way, and stroked her hand through his hair. His ear twitched when she touched it.

Tsunade had not told Naruto or anyone else yet. She had mentioned it to Shizune though a few weeks ago. She was planning on retiring from the Hokage title, and Naruto was of course the first candidate that had come to her mind. To be fair she had looked at some others as well, but Naruto was actually the only real option to her.

She sighed and stroked his hair again, absentmindedly. Sasuke studied her. She had never really said it out loud to him, but he knew Naruto meant more to her then she let on.

Suddenly she looked Sasuke in the eyes and pulled her hand back as if finally noticing that Sasuke had been there all along, watching what she had been doing.

"How's Akira-kun doing?" she asked.

"Fine. He misses Naruto too, but he's doing well at the academy." Sasuke shrugged.

"Good." Silence fell and Tsunade turned her head once more to the man lying in the bed. The sound of the IV dripping on the background was the only sound in the room. It started as a slightly awkward moment, but it soon grew quite normal.

Naruto twitched his ear, but there had not been a hand in range to make it twitch.

Tsunade and Sasuke both looked up to it, stared at each other and then back at the ear.

It twitched again, as well as the other.

Sasuke sat upright and Tsunade leaned in a bit closer.

"He didn't do that before, did he?"

"No." Sasuke stood up. "Naruto? Can you hear me?"

The ears stopped twitching and instead Naruto's face cramped up in pain. Tsunade stood up as well.

"Naruto."

Suddenly Naruto's eyes went open and he started coughing.

"Naruto!" Sasuke helped him sit up a bit.

Slowly Naruto stopped coughing, gasping for air for a bit before his eyes began to close again.

"Naruto, look at me, don't fall asleep again!" Sasuke called, shaking him in his eagerness to keep Naruto awake.

Tsunade had her hands on Naruto's chest, showing a light green hue. Naruto's breathing began to even out and he soon slept once more. Tsunade looked up to him. "It's alright now." She moved her hand lower over Naruto's torso and finally stopped as she finished the examination. She laid her hand on Naruto's shoulder.

Sasuke looked at Tsunade, waiting for her to speak first, but she didn't. "What's wrong?"

Tsunade turned to him and looked down at Sasuke. "Nothing. He's fine. I think he's trying to wake up from the jutsu." She looked Sasuke up and down before she pulled her hands back from Naruto. "This is a good sign."

-X-

Sasuke had stayed over the night, thinking Naruto would probably wake up again soon, and didn't want to miss it. The nurses had tried to get him out of the room, but a single glance had made them reconsider. "There aren't a lot of patients in the hospital, maybe we could make an exception and make him stay just one night."

Akira was with Kakashi and Anko, and had been quite excited about it. Kakashi had lazily looked down at the happy boy standing next to him and had walked home, Akira smiling while he followed the Silvery haired ninja home while an 'Icha Icha' book seemed to materialize out of nowhere.

Sasuke was lying next to Naruto on the same bed, spooning him, careful not to detach his IV or catheter. He was all too happy to be sharing a bed again that he couldn't complain about the size of the bed. His hands were wrapped and plastered tightly around Naruto's body, and that was how he had fallen asleep.

Slowly eyes fluttered open and Naruto's looked around. He couldn't quite remember what had happened, at first, but slowly the memories started to return to him.

He took in a couple of deep breaths, as his chest felt heavy, which made Sasuke stir.

"You're awake?"

Naruto yipped, and turned around so quickly that Sasuke almost fell off the bed. Sasuke was only able to stay on the bed because he had held on to Naruto so tightly so not to make the fall.

"Sorry," Naruto gripped Sasuke and pulled him back onto the bed against himself, and turned to face him. Naruto grinned. "The bed sure is small." He wanted to put his arm around Sasuke but instead he pulled at the IV in his arm. "Itai." He looked at the tube of the IV, following the cord to the side of his bed. "How long have I been out of it?" He knew putting someone on the IV mostly wasn't just for a day, especially not for him. And then he felt a catheter as well.

Sasuke sighed. "Almost three weeks."

"Three weeks." Naruto repeated monotonously and turned back to Sasuke.

Suddenly he realized what he had just said. "Wait, three weeks? What did that jutsu do? What happened to you?"

Sasuke was glad to hear that Naruto still remembered what had happened, which was a good sign. "We still don't know what the jutsu was supposed to do, but it caused me to get a fever and you to sleep for this long."

Naruto blinked. "I feel fine," he said while he tried to sit up, but Sasuke pulled him down again.

"You sure?"

Naruto moved his eyes between Sasuke's left eye and his right eye. "Yeah, why?"

"To be sure."

Naruto smirked. Sasuke sat up and helped Naruto up too. "You hungry?"

"A bit."

Sasuke got out of the bed and turned towards the door. "I am too, so I'm going to get something to eat."

"Okay."

As soon as Sasuke had left the room, Naruto pulled out the IV, he hated needles in his body for too long; it reminded him of the nails that had once pierced his hands for over a month. Slowly he made a move to pull out the catheter as well.

"It will be over in a minute," he told himself as he pulled at the cord.

He swayed his legs over the bedside and wanted to stand up. When he tried he swayed a bit and fell back on the bed. His legs felt more similar to jelly. As he sat on the bed again, he tried to stretch his legs. Finally he was able to pull them up to his chest and he tried to stand up again.

At the very moment that he stood up and took a few steps, Sasuke came in again with some food. Sakura was following him.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura noticed the loose IV and catheter. "Naruto? Why did you-?" She turned back to him, "Never mind. Sit down on the bed. How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Naruto said as he walked back to the bed, his tail swaying.

"Ah," Sakura started looking him over and came to the conclusion he was indeed doing fine.

Sasuke gave Naruto his food and he slowly began eating it. Sasuke sat beside him on the bed, eating his own food.

"So, that jutsu, didn't really do anything? Beside putting me to sleep for over two weeks and give Sasuke a fever?"

"Not that we know of."

"Stupid man. If I had been in his position, and been as mad as he was, I would have come up with something better to take out my enemies," Naruto muttered.

"You don't know if it's over," Sakura said, looking sternly at the blond, "and perhaps this was the easiest jutsu for him to do. It did take you out of the fight. I'm lucky his second jutsu misfired at himself, or I might have died instead," Sakura told him.

"He died, because his jutsu misfired?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, he landed himself into a coma. He died just a few days ago. His brain had been damaged too much."

Naruto shivered. "What if he had hit you or us with that..."

Silence fell as they thought of the 'what if's' that might have happened.

"If only he had hit me with a de-foxing jutsu," Naruto said as he put his hand on his chin. "I wouldn't have minded that."

Sakura hit him on the head. "Baka!"

Sasuke seemed to agree with her, he just didn't hit Naruto since it wasn't in his character. "I would never want anyone to hit you with a de-foxing jutsu," he told the blond.

Naruto blushed and fiddled with his food, rolling over his plate.

"Dobe."

After a while Naruto sighed. "I'm good to go, right?" he asked, looking up hopefully to Sakura.

"Yeah, you're alright, and I think not even Tsunade-sama is able to think of something to keep you here."

Naruto grinned. "Well, thank you for the meal," he handed Sasuke the plate, "and if you don't mind I'll put on my own clothes again."

-x-

Later the same day Naruto had been officially discharged, and was sitting on the couch with Sasuke and Akira.

"I'm glad you're fine," Akira said. He'd just gotten home.

"Me too," Sasuke said. Naruto smiled.

"You guys are so good for me," Naruto said, sticking out his tongue.

"Naruto, did you see my report card?"

"No, I didn't."

And so Akira went to fetch his card to show his excellent marks to Naruto.

"So you haven't been on any missions?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"No, not many; I was too ill or not feeling up to it."

"Ah," Naruto looked up as Akira came down the stairs.

He handed Naruto the card and Naruto examined it.

"Wow, I wish I had been able to get such grades back at the Academy. Even half of it," he muttered as he came to the last few grades.

Akira blushed. "They're not that great," he said with his hands on his back, swaying from left to right and back.

"They are to me," Naruto said and gave him a smile.

"Still; I want to do better," he said softly.

"Why, is this not good enough?" Naruto wondered stunned.

"I know I can do better," he smiled shyly.

Naruto looked at him and then to Sasuke.

"You have anything to do with this?" he asked softly.

"No, it's all his own idea, and I believe he can do it."

"I'm not saying I don't believe him. But you do have to want to do that by your own decision." Naruto directed the last sentence to Akira.

"I do," he said, blushing a bit. "You don't like it?" he asked.

"Well, it's more that I'm impressed that you want to do it."

Akira became a slight tint redder.

"You're making a tomato out of my son," Sasuke told Naruto.

"Tou-chan!"

Sasuke and Naruto laughed.

-X-

Naruto was sleeping soundly in his bed. Everything had turned back to normal since he'd woken up three weeks ago. Nothing seemed to have happened to them, and the incident with the mysterious jutsu had already been forgotten.

Naruto woke up when he suddenly felt a pull behind his stomach. As he leaned on his elbows he saw Sasuke sitting on the edge of the bed, making gagging motions.

Naruto quickly helped Sasuke over to the bathroom, but they didn't quite make it to the toilet or sink in time. Sasuke vomited on the white tiles. The second wave luckily _did_ end in the toilet. After that Sasuke stayed hanging over the toilet for a moment and then shakily got up as Naruto was cleaning the floor.

"Are you feeling alright?" Naruto asked as he stood up to help Sasuke back to bed. Sasuke pushed him away.

"Fine. I'll go back to bed if you don't mind."

"Okay." Naruto stared after him until he was out of sight. He shrugged and went back to cleaning the bathroom. It smelled badly so he wanted it clean as fast as possible.

His nose still filled with the vomit stench, Naruto came back into the bedroom where Sasuke was sitting on the bed. He seemed alright again.

"Probably eaten something wrong," he told Naruto.

"I guess so." Naruto sat beside him and placed his arms around Sasuke. He was still sweating a bit.

"Now I feel strangely empty," Sasuke said as he rubbed his belly.

"Let's get back to sleep. Tomorrow you'll feel a lot better."

They both lay back and Naruto got the blankets over them. Sasuke stayed staring at the ceiling for a while before curling up on his side. Fortunately he fell asleep quite quickly; he felt drained of energy.

-x-

Three hours later they sat at the kitchen table, having breakfast. Sasuke seemed almost fine again. He still felt lacking energy a bit, but he wasn't nauseous. Naruto had made him some toast and tea and he was slowly eating as he watched his son do the same.

"You okay?" Akira asked.

"I'm fine."

"Okay," Akira smiled.

Naruto looked Sasuke over and saw he wasn't paler than usual or shivering like last night. He was eating a bit slow, but that was expected he thought. He cleaned his plate and gave Sasuke a kiss.

"I'm going to train my team, bye."

"Bye, Naruto," Akira waved.

Sasuke just watched him leave. When he turned back to Akira he saw him playing with his milk. How the boy hated milk.

"Hurry, drink up your milk or you'll be late," Sasuke said as he stood up to put his own plate and cup away.

Akira moaned and closed his eyes as he gulped down the milk in one go. He shivered at the taste and wiped his mouth. When he stood next to Sasuke at the sink, Sasuke ruffled the boy's hair.

"Good boy."

Akira frowned at him. Then he took his bag and hugged Sasuke before running out of the kitchen.

"See you later!" he yelled.

Sasuke sighed and started to get ready for his small solo mission for today.

He rubbed his neck as he walked down the stairs after washing up and dressing. He'd felt bad the morning before as well. Naruto hadn't remembered, because he'd been so deep asleep when he woke up and noticed Sasuke was gone. When Sasuke returned he had asked what was wrong, Sasuke had told him he'd been sick and Naruto had turned around and was off sleeping again. He hated it when Naruto did that.

The next morning he hadn't asked anything about it and Sasuke knew he had forgotten.

-oXo-

Next: The outcome; what is the jutsu really doing? (Of course we all know it, but they don't) ^^


	3. Chapter 3: The Outcome

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Thank you all for the reviews and favs/alerts! (I can't wait what you have to say about this chapter ^^)

Note: this chapter was edited on 11-05-2014

-oXo-

_**Chapter 3: The outcome**_

_18__th__ of December_

Sasuke was currently clutching a pail in his hands as if he it was a lifeline. He had been ill for the last two weeks, vomiting every now and then, and half an hour later feeling alright. He hated it, and it made him feel useless. He couldn't go on missions like this, but he still had too much energy to just sit still and do nothing.

His stomach painfully cramped together again and the fruit salad he had eaten about two hours ago landed back into a bowl, looking more slimy and brownish than how it had gone in.

He sighed as he stayed sitting for five more minutes before standing up and going to the sink to wash the pail. He dried it with a towel before he threw the thing toward the couch before he went upstairs to take a shower. He needed a shower to do something, and as he had been cleaning the pail he'd noticed some stains on his shirt from vomiting six hours ago.

He growled softly and pulled off his clothes. When he stood in the bathroom, he decided to take a bath instead of a shower and turned on the water.

As he stood waiting for the bathtub to fill up he laid his hand on his stomach. As he did so he looked down and sighed. He needed to get back to training. He'd only been home for two weeks and he was already losing his shape. As he stood there, watching his less visible abs (or so he thought, any other man would still have been envious of his body) he wondered if he'd lost some weight due to the constant vomiting.

He pulled out the scale and was just about to stand on it when Naruto entered the bathroom.

"Care if I join you?" he asked mischievously. Then he saw Sasuke standing in his boxers on the scale.

"Lost some weight, haven't you?" Sasuke groaned in response. "Come on, it can't be that bad?" Naruto slipped his arms around Sasuke's waist.

"I should be 68.6 kg," he murmured. Naruto let go of Sasuke to look down at the scale. It said 66.1 kg.

"That's not so bad," he looked up to Sasuke's abdomen and poked it. "When you get over this flu, you'll be back to normal in no time." He grinned', his index finger resting a little above Sasuke's bellybutton.

Sasuke didn't like the way Naruto was going about this. He narrowed his eyes when Naruto had started pulling off his own clothes. Then he looked over to Naruto's abdomen while the blond was feeling the water for the right temperature. Naruto looked fine and Sasuke hated it in some way. He crossed his arms while he watched Naruto's fluffy tail happily sweep behind him as he hummed. He _hated_ sitting around all day!

Naruto looked up and saw Sasuke's evil glare and swallowed, his fox ears lowering.

"Eh, Sasuke?" Sasuke's response was the glare shifting from Naruto's abdomen to his face. Naruto didn't really know what to do and shifted under Sasuke's glare. "Sasuke?" he asked again.

Sasuke stopped his glare and directed it to the bath instead. Naruto turned around to the tub and saw it was filled up enough so he turned off the water supply. He waited for Sasuke to get in first before he would followed. They always did it like this. Once Sasuke was in the bath, Naruto followed and leant against his chest.

"Today I saw Lee, he told me Tenten and Gai-sensei have the flu as well. It's really going around," Naruto said, having an idea what this was all about.

Sasuke sighed. "Lucky for you, you don't get it that easily."

Naruto grinned. Last week he'd felt bad for three hours, thrown up and had been alright the next day and ever since. Perhaps having partly merged with a demon fox wasn't so bad for your immune system, Sasuke thought. He finally folded his arms around Naruto.

Suddenly he began sniggering and Naruto was wondering if this flu was doing some other things to Sasuke other than making him throw up.

"Eh, Sasu?" he asked uncomfortably. "You feeling alright?"

"Hm, you gained some weight."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, unseen to Sasuke as he was with his back to him. "Because I've been eating everything you couldn't for the last few weeks. So?"

"I can feel it." He gripped Naruto's abdomen somewhat tighter. He must be over his 37.2 kg for sure!

"Sasuke!" Naruto protested as he tried to pull Sasuke's hands away. "What is wrong with you?" He really acted weird. "Are you moody because you can't go on missions?" Naruto asked, water stirring, as he couldn't get Sasuke to stop in some other way.

Sasuke indeed stopped at hearing the words, as Naruto had hit a string, the right one at that. It had been something Sasuke had been thinking about for the last week. He placed his chin on Naruto's shoulder.

"I want to do something. I can practically feel that I'm getting out of shape here."

"I'll ask Sakura if she has something for this flu, alright?"

"Sure." Sasuke let his hands roam over Naruto's torso. He didn't like taking medicine, ever since his days with Orochimaru.

"You know what I feel like doing?" he asked somewhat later, his hands still feeling up Naruto's skin.

"I think I have the feeling that I do..."

Sasuke pushed Naruto forward so he himself could sit up, and then placed the blond under his chest. Naruto hadn't expected Sasuke to react this fast, and was still a bit stunned when Sasuke started riding against him. Okay, so this was going to be a quicky.

Sasuke bit in Naruto's shoulder, making the blond's eyebrows rise. Sasuke had never done that before. He let his hands wonder over Sasuke as the raven kept grinding him under the water.

"You want it, then do it," he told the raven with a smug face.

Sasuke let Naruto's shoulder go and prepared Naruto for what was to come. Well, it was a rather quick preparation; somehow Sasuke couldn't contain himself. Was this one of those energy bursts he had between the puking?

Naruto didn't mind as he felt himself being filled up. Sasuke started moving, and Naruto made soft sounds from pleasure. Sasuke liked to take control and thus he did so. He shifted a couple of times before he hit Naruto's prostate dead on.

Naruto lowered his head, feeling a strange and indescribable good feeling spread out, and soon was about to come, but Sasuke came first. That hadn't happened a lot either. Naruto started wondering what this flu was doing to Sasuke. Sasuke cramped up from pleasure for a moment, and Naruto was almost afraid Sasuke had forgotten all about him when he stopped moving. Then the raven moved again. He was pulling out and now Naruto was really sure he'd been forgotten, only to be surprised when Sasuke pushed back in again.

"What the-?" Naruto said out of surprise. Sasuke was going for a another round? This fast? For a second Naruto didn't mind anymore as everything became pure ecstasy. Sasuke moved inside him for a while longer before he cramped up around Naruto and stopped while groaning in pure pleasure (again), and fell on top of Naruto, panting.

"I so... needed this," he said. Naruto was secretly beginning to worry about his raven, but couldn't do so right now as he felt teeth in his shoulder again.

"What are you doing?" he asked carefully.

"I was just wondering what it felt like," Sasuke explained as if it was quite normal for him to bite Naruto in the shoulder like this.

Naruto frowned a little. "Okay," he said slowly.

Suddenly Sasuke pulled back and stood up in the bath. He was out, dried and dressed before Naruto could process what was happening.

Naruto was left alone in the bath.

"What the-?" he asked again, his ears dropping.

-X-

Three days later Sasuke felt like beating something up or throwing some plates around. He'd just finished puking, _again_! He still wasn't feeling better, and all Sakura had told him was to drink and eat enough fruit, to get some vitamins. But he already knew that. Besides the only effect this had on him that everything ended in a pail or in the toilet, coming up the wrong way.

Akira had come home some time ago and had asked if he could stay over at a friend's place. Sasuke hadn't mind, not really. Deep down it was fine, but now that he was alone again, he couldn't even help his son with practice. No distraction at all.

He stroked his hand through his hair as he lay on the couch in some weird position. He felt like he was losing himself. He wasn't how he should be, not only physically. He just didn't feel right as if he had realized he was in someone else's body. It was strange and distracting, and he didn't know how to go about it.

When Naruto got home, with a big smile on his face, he walked into the living room where he saw Sasuke hanging over the couch. He put down his backpack, filled with stuff he'd needed for his two day mission. He looked at Sasuke for a while, suddenly pitying him. No, actually it wasn't pity, it was worry.

"Still not feeling well?" he asked softly from beside the door.

"Hn~," Sasuke groaned darkly, looking through his fingers as his hands covered his face.

"We better get to a doctor then?" Naruto said, having had enough of this too. This illness had been going on for way too long.

"Yeah, he'll just tell to drink plenty and eat enough, like Sakura." That was clearly sarcasm in his voice and a whole load of anger.

Naruto tilted his head a little and his tail almost angrily swooped from leg to leg. "Come on, you want to get better, don't you?" Naruto rubbed his stomach when it rumbled softly. "I'll go with you; I have a question for Sakura too."

Sasuke sat up and looked over to Naruto. "What?"

"You'll hear it when we get to her," Naruto said mysteriously, grinning.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He didn't like it when Naruto held things to himself, not telling Sasuke. As he considered Naruto he wondered if he was serious, really wanting to ask Sakura something important or if he was just being stupid, trying to get Sasuke to come. A few minutes later his curiosity (there really _was_ something wrong with him) got the better of him and he stood up. "Fine." Even though he had a feeling this was just a trap to lure him to come with Naruto.

Naruto grasped the apple that had been lying on the table and pulled Sasuke off the couch. He grinned mischievously.

-x-

Together they waited for Sakura to come to her own examination room. Naruto stood staring outside, his hands resting on the windowsill, and Sasuke was standing awfully close to the small sink in the room, eying it every now and then as if checking it was still there.

When Sakura walked in she found the two of them like this, standing there. Her eyebrows rose and Naruto turned around.

"Hey, Sakura-chan," he said cheerfully.

"What are you doing here? Everything alright?" she asked, looking from Naruto to Sasuke, who was once more eying the sink.

Sasuke clamped his hand around the edge of the countertop before he cramped up.

"You'll see for yourself," Naruto said as Sasuke made a side step toward the sink only to throw up the orange and the kiwi he'd eaten earlier.

"You're still ill?" Sakura asked as she came to stand next to Sasuke, looking down the sink. Why did she always need to do that? Sasuke began to wonder if Sakura held some kind of fascination for vomit. "Hmm," she said, studying Sasuke's former stomach contents. She washed the sink while Sasuke sat down on the examination table, already knowing she wanted to ask him to go over there, and pulled out his long-sleeved shirt.

Sakura came to stand beside the table at the moment Sasuke was laying down. Naruto walked over to the end of the table, looking down at Sasuke.

"Have you been able to hold down any foods lately?" she asked as her hands poked him.

"Yes, about half of what I eat," he said.

Sakura's hands prodded his empty stomach, which Sasuke didn't seem to like. "You eat the same amount you normally do?" she continued questioning while looking him over with her eyes.

"Hm, lesser I guess."

"Definitely lesser, I clear your plate every evening," Naruto said as he looked down to Sasuke.

Sasuke turned his head to the side. "Fat ass."

"Hé!" Naruto said offended while Sasuke grinned. Naruto lowered his fox ears and his tail swept angrily a couple of times, hitting the legs of the examination table. Sasuke never insulted him like that.

Sakura stopped poking the Uchiha, and her hands started glowing. First she started up his throat, went down his chest, his sides and finally over his abdomen. She went slowly over his belly, as if wanting to be sure she didn't miss anything, and then stopped. Her hand went to her chin while she sat down, and stared into nothingness as she sat there pensively. "Hm," was the only sound she made.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Hm?" he asked.

"Wait a second," she stood up and left the room.

"Was that a negative or positive 'hm'?" Naruto asked, rubbing his stomach as it rumbled again.

"Are you hungry or something?" Sasuke asked irritated as he sat up, leaning on his elbows. Naruto tried to ignore Sasuke's glare.

Sakura came back with a small device in her hand, around the size of a kitchen scale and with a similar screen, which looked like a clock with only one pointer. In her other hand she held up a few tubes that were connected to the screen in her other hand

She placed the screen on a table next to the bed and let some chakra run through it while Sasuke sat up, looking down at the thing in her hands.

"You don't show the symptoms of having the flu, so I want to check something else." She placed some white stickers on his chest and abdomen. Both Sasuke and Naruto had no idea what she was doing.

First she connected the tubes to the two stickers on his chest, as if there was a positive and negative cord, and poured some chakra through it. The pointer measured something and Sakura disconnected it. Then she attached it to the ones on his abdomen.

"Somehow your hormones are unbalanced, making you ill. But I have no idea why." She roughly pulled the stickers off of Sasuke's chest, which earned her a glare, and stood up. She was pacing back and forth the room next to her desk a few times until she stopped to face Sasuke.

"I just want to be sure that jutsu didn't do anything to you. I'll do an ultrasound to be sure." She turned away again. "It probably won't tell anything though," she added softly.

"Not that jutsu again," Sasuke groaned out of annoyance as his head fell back. He'd already forgotten about the jutsu. Why was it only affecting him and not Naruto?

"Stop rubbing," he told Naruto, obviously annoyed.

Naruto dropped his hand since he'd been rubbing his stomach again, and raised an eyebrow. "Grumpy," he muttered, twitching his tail.

Sakura came back into the room, grinning awkwardly. "I forgot to tell you to come with me to the other room," she said as she stroked some hair behind her ear.

Sasuke sighed as he stood up and followed her, Naruto behind him.

Finally installed on the examination table, Sakura put some cold gel on his stomach. She held a small device in her hand and placed it on Sasuke's abdomen. She started to move it around, and looked at the small black screen next to the bed, where now white and grey shapes moved over the screen.

Suddenly she stopped and narrowed her eyes as she looked at the screen.

"What? There's almost nothing in there as most of what I eat comes out again," Sasuke murmured annoyed. Then he looked at the screen as well. "What's that?" he asked as he pointed to a black spot.

"Your bladder," Sakura answered automatically.

"Those are organs?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes.

Sakura moved the transducer again. "I thought I saw something," she said, "but it was nothing." She moved the device over his belly some more before pulling it back. She handed Sasuke a small towel to clean his stomach.

"I guess I'll give you some medicine for the hormones, and I hope everything will be fine," Sakura said with the transducer still in hand, obviously still in thought.

"Me too," Sasuke grumbled.

"Can you turn it off?" Sakura and Sasuke looked up to Naruto, who had his ears flat. "It's an annoying sound," he said as he pointed to Sakura's hand.

"Oh, right." Sakura pushed a few buttons and the screen went blank. Slowly Naruto's ears went up again.

Sakura considered him for a moment before looking at Sasuke.

"You had a question," Sasuke said to Naruto as his sweater was back on and he was about to stand up.

"It's nothing, I just-"

"Don't lie to me." Naruto fell silent.

"Perhaps I should just check you up anyway, to be sure something isn't happening to you as well," Sakura said. Sasuke smirked at Naruto.

_What is wrong with that guy?_ Naruto didn't like Sasuke's smirk.

"That's not necessary. I just got some stomach cramps, nothing serious." Naruto stared at the ultrasound machine before he began to move away.

"Naruto," Sakura warned. Naruto stopped. "Sit down." He turned back and sat down on the examination table where Sakura was pointing to. "Pull out your sweater."

Naruto took off his shirt and lay down. Sasuke was still smirking.

Sakura continued the same procedure she had started on Sasuke. She started poking Naruto.

"You eat normally?"

"Pretty much, just a bit more as Sasuke can't finish his plate. It's a waste to throw it away!" He told her.

"How long do you have these complaints?"

"They're not com-" Naruto stopped as he saw Sakura's gaze at him. "It started a couple of days ago, I guess."

"What do you feel when it happens?" She had stopped moving her hand, to prod him on one particular spot on his abdomen. Naruto tried to ignore it.

"Some cramps, that's all. I told you it's nothing; I just wanted to bring Sasuke over here."

"And I told you I just wanted to check you to be sure there are no after effects from the jutsu," Sakura told him sternly.

Naruto started shifting under Sakura's still prodding fingers, as they didn't move away from that single spot. "Can you stop that?" He finally swatted her hands away.

Sakura looked at him, curiously. "Why? Is it uncomfortable?"

"Hm," Naruto turned his face away, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly.

Sakura's hands started to shine a nice shade of pink, and she laid them on that spot on his abdomen. Naruto's tail started shifting angrily since he didn't like this whole thing.

Suddenly Sakura's eyes narrowed and then widened. "What's that?" she mumbled to herself.

"My navel?" Naruto said sarcastically, which earned him a slap on the back of his head.

"That's not what I was talking about. There seems to be a mass of chakra down here."

"Kyuubi, perhaps?" Naruto asked mockingly. This earned him another slap.

"No, it's your own chakra; your mixed chakra." She pulled her hands away and reached for the ultrasound again. "But what's it doing there?"

Naruto didn't like where this was going, and Sasuke's smirk had disappeared. Sakura put some gel on Naruto's stomach and he shrieked a bit at the coolness. "That's cold."

"Sasuke didn't complain."

"But his body temperature is at least two centigrade lesser than a normal person's is."

Sakura put the transducer on his stomach before she started moving it. Until...

Her mouth went slightly open and her eyes grew. She pulled back the transducer from his stomach in shock.

"That can't be..." she mumbled. Naruto had no idea what she was talking about, since he hadn't seen much of the image that had been on the screen. Frankly he didn't understand the screen, plus he had been more annoyed by the sound it made.

Sakura let the transducer go and stood up. "Back in a minute," she said.

Naruto leaned on his elbows to get himself to sit up. "I don't like where this is going. Please don't let it be some fox organ or something."

Sasuke gave him a look that told him he was rambling and saying crazy things. Naruto grinned back.

"Of course not. Besides foxes organs aren't all that much different," Sasuke told him.

"Oh."

After a minute of silence Naruto had to ask. "You think that jutsu did whatever," he waved his hand to the machine, "Sakura was all hyped about?" He looked up to the tall raven.

"Could be? If it is messing with my hormones, who knows..."

Sakura stepped back into the room with Tsunade behind her.

"Tsunade?" Naruto asked.

"Show me," was al she said and it was directed to Sakura. Naruto frowned; he hated to be ignored in situations like these.

Sakura moved the screen away from Naruto to show Tsunade whatever it was she had been seeing, and Tsunade moved the transducer over Naruto's abdomen. She too stopped somewhere on the same spot Sakura had.

"There," Sakura said. "It's all covered in chakra."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed as well as the two were studying the screen.

"Come on? What's wrong, what do the shapes say?" Naruto was getting irritated.

"Could that really be-?" Tsunade said, sounding very surprised.

"Could be what?" Sasuke asked as he looked over their shoulders, and finally saw what had these women so freaked out. His mouth fell open.

"Could a jutsu do that?" Sakura asked.

"Wait a second," Sasuke said. "Is that what I think it looks like?" His voice sounded a bit off. He wasn't a medic or expert with this thing, but when he saw the picture it could almost be only one thing.

"Yes, we believe so."

"Save the picture," Tsunade told Sakura.

"What does what look like?" Naruto asked.

"I'm back in a minute." Tsunade stood up and left the room, the device laying lonely on Naruto's stomach.

"Why are you all so mysterious? And can you turn it off now?" Naruto rubbed his side, since he couldn't rub his in gel covered stomach.

"It bothers you again?" Sakura asked, looking at his hand as she disconnected the transducer.

"Of course it bothers me! Show me what's wrong? Am I growing extra organs or something?"

Sakura gulped at how close he was to the truth. "That's not what I meant, but well..." Sakura said as she stared at the screen for a second. Then she turned it toward Naruto.

First he had no idea what they had seen that had freaked them out so much, but then his eyes spotted it; a black shape wherein a clear profile of a very small miniature shape of person could be seen.

Naruto sat up straight, to see the picture more clearly. "What?"

"That's a child, Naruto, about twelve weeks old."

All Naruto could do was stare, much like Sasuke did.

"You're pregnant..." Sakura said softly.

For a long time nothing was said.

"I'm p-" He couldn't get the word past his lips. "You show me that thing and expect me to believe that? I'm no expert on pregnancies, but I do know men don't get pregnant." Naruto said angrily.

"Not normally, no," Sakura mumbled.

Before Naruto could respond in any way, Tsunade came back with a report in her hand and opened it.

"This is what Kakashi wrote down about what he saw when that jutsu hit the two of you," she said as she pulled out a paper and began reading it out loud; paying no attention to the atmosphere in the room.

"_A white light hit Sasuke first, around his abdomen and then went right through him. The light coming out of him had turned slightly violet, much like his chakra, and then hit Naruto next, who stood directly behind him. The light hit him around the same place as where it had hit Sasuke. The light went through him as well, but had shrunk considerately as again pure white light entered his back and died down shortly after doing so._"

"You never told us that," Sasuke said, finally having found his voice, "nor Kakashi."

"Because we didn't know what the jutsu had done, or had done anything at all. So we had no idea how this could be related."

"How is it related now?" Naruto asked, unable to think clearly.

"It could probably have worked the other way around as well. If the jutsu had hit Naruto first and then Sasuke, Sasuke would have been pregnant," Tsunade told them. "I think when the light hit Sasuke first it took some cells from him and transported that, when the light became violet, to Naruto's abdomen. The jutsu somehow must have put some things in motion inside Naruto as well, like putting Sasuke's DNA together with Naruto's and creating a chakra womb to protect it."

"DNA? Womb?" Naruto's poor brain, it was overloaded.

"Yes, it created a child inside of you," Tsunade concluded.

Naruto fell back against the table and his hands grabbed his hair. "Please tell me you're joking? I'll admit it's the best joke ever and I'll never, ever-"

"It's not," Tsunade told him softly but with a definite, serious tone.

"Somehow this process has affected Sasuke as well, making you sick since your hormones are unbalanced," Sakura told Sasuke.

Silence fell as everyone was processing this information.

Sasuke started to feel sick again, but this time he knew it had nothing to do with the jutsu's effects.

Sakura had turned off the monitor, and began ordering and tidying up instruments out of nervousness. Tsunade just watched Naruto as his hands covered his eyes and his breathing had turned a bit erratic.

Gradually Naruto let his hands slide to his sides. Suddenly he sat up and winced. He needed to get out of here and so he did. The rest just let him go as they thought that was for the best, and no one really knew what to say anyway.

-oXo-

A/N: Haha, I hope I got you all there, thinking it might be Sasuke instead of Naruto ^^

Next: The impact


	4. Chapter 4: The Impact

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

And I want to thank my Beta MS3923 for all the help :D

Note: this chapter was edited on 15-05-2014

-oXo-

_**Chapter 4: The impact**_

_(Still) 21__st__ of December_

Naruto was standing under the shower, just staring in front of him, seeing nothing. He'd washed off the gel from his stomach and he wished he could wash off a lot more.

Pregnant? It was just too ridiculous, but he knew they would not lie about something like this.

It would explain why he felt these pulls and cramps in his stomach. Now that he thought about it, he remembered more and more of these little things happening to him over the last month, that had not bothered him enough to think about before.

Sasuke had once told him about an experiment Orochimaru and Kabuto had been trying to complete. They had taken out a womb from a dying woman, who had been pregnant for a couple of months, and tried to keep it alive even though it had been disconnected from its mother.

Sasuke had said how even he had been disgusted by what they had done. And when the baby was about to die, because they couldn't keep it alive for even a week, they had placed the womb inside a feminine animal.

Both the animal and the baby had died the next day.

What could he expect? Would he live through this? Would he die within a couple of months? Or would he die as the child tried to get out of him? He shuddered at the mere thought.

Suddenly his legs gave out on him, and he fell to the floor on his knees, water still pouring on him.

Was he a freak again, like when he was little and alone in a street with angry men throwing garbage at him, or a couple of years ago when he had grown a tail and ears. He was finally accepted by the villagers, he had worked so hard for it. And now this?

He couldn't help it, he normally didn't cry that easily, but his world was turning upside down. Why did these things have to happen to him?

He looked down at his stomach. He couldn't see anything different about it, but he could feel there was something hard in there, something that wasn't there usually; no soft organs to push, but this... chakra-womb. It felt more solid and firm than intestines. He sighed and took a ragged breath.

After a while, he slowly tried to stand up again. He didn't want to sit here in self-pity. He had promised himself a long time ago he wouldn't do that anymore. Crying will not get you further in such cases.

When he stood again, he began washing his hair, and even his tail, which he didn't do every time he took a shower, but it took his mind off things for even a second.

After quite a long time of staring into nothingness, his mind blank, he finally turned the shower off.

He grasped a towel and stepped out of the cabin.

-o-o-o-

Back in Sakura's examination room, a discussion had started.

"When you say DNA cells, what do you mean?" Sasuke had a feeling there was more to it than had been said.

"I think it might have been sperm," Sakura told him. He'd been afraid of that.

"How can these 'DNA cells' grow?" Sasuke asked, keeping it to DNA cells, because that sounded better for the moment.

"The jutsu has somehow formed a barrier around the 'DNA cells'," Sakura followed his example, "that consist of Naruto's chakra and some organic tissue. This combination makes it almost as stable as a woman's womb. That's probably also why he has been sleeping so much after being hit by the jutsu; to let his body adjust to this big change.

To produce such a chakra womb with organic tissue must be very hard to sustain, and probably takes a lot of energy. It is quite strong right now, and actually might get even stronger. Have you felt his abdomen lately? You can actually feel the womb there," Sakura explained, while she came to some answers while she told him this. She was just thinking out loud.

"How come you hadn't seen it before, when he was still unconscious?" Sasuke asked.

"Probably because in the first few weeks, it must have been really small, just a few cells big. If you're not looking for it, you will not find it. Like a needle in a haystack. Besides, the chakra pattern could have been confused for being activity of the Kyuubi," Sakura said and looked over to Tsunade. She took a deep breath and looked up to Sasuke. "When I was checking him just now, and I noticed the chakra, I also saw that the so called womb has attached itself to his intestines. I don't think removing it will be very easy, and certainly not without risks."

Tsunade nodded. "This pregnancy might be risky anyway, seeing as he's actually not built for this, but indeed removing the womb seems even riskier at the moment."

"Will he… be okay?" Sasuke asked as he looked from the Hokage to his teammate.

"I'm not sure. This has never happened before, we know next to nothing about the jutsu and what else it might still do. What if we remove the cells from Naruto, would it try to make a new womb again? Will it damage Naruto's organs?" Tsunade looked seriously at the image that was still on the screen. "There are many risks if we let it grow, but more so if we remove it. The only 'good' thing about this is that Naruto is carrying the baby and not Sasuke. At least we know the fox gives Naruto a better chance to survive this. If you had been carrying the baby..." Her voice died out.

"So we can't even think about removing it?" Sasuke asked.

"It's not really an option, no." Tsunade said sadly, "But if you are really sure you do-"

"We need to find this doctor's research. This couldn't be the first time he has done this. We need to find out what happened to these other men that he experimented on, and be prepared." Sasuke interrupted Tsunade. She and Sakura nodded.

"I will send out a team as soon as possible."

Sasuke grabbed his hair; he couldn't believe all that had been said. Pregnant. Naruto. Naruto pregnant. Sure, and pigs could fly. Naruto, _his_ Naruto nonetheless. His Naruto was pregnant? Some jutsu that could make men pregnant, could that truly exist? But still…

Some part of him told him it might be crazy, but that didn't make it impossible. His years of travelling with Orochimaru had sure shown him what kind of crazy things might be possible and become reality.

Suddenly he felt as if all his energy had left him. What would this mean? What would change? What would happen? All of a sudden he realised how much this scared him. There were so many strings attached to this pregnancy, and Naruto didn't even know all this. How was _he_ feeling?

Sasuke decided he should go to Naruto, so that they could talk about this together.

-x-

Sasuke waited in the bedroom for Naruto to come from under the shower. He was sitting at the end of the bed, his eyes closed and his arms crossed.

He sighed as he tried to imagine what he would do if someone told him he was pregnant. He would most definitely freak out at first, or perhaps deny everything. He wasn't exactly sure, but probably the latter.

As his thoughts became more and more violent, he shook his head, as if to shake them out of it. Just as he stopped doing this, Naruto came into the room; wet hair dripping and a towel around his waist. It looked like he hadn't dried himself off at all. Water was rapidly dripping from his tail onto the floor.

Sasuke stood up, and as Naruto walked forward into his arms, he hugged his wet blond.

Naruto stood rigid, unable to move.

They stood there for what felt like hours. After a while had passed, Naruto finally returned the hug.

"My mind just can't handle this," he mumbled into Sasuke's shoulder, since he was smaller and thus couldn't reach higher.

"Mine either."

"I don't know anything about pregnancies, except that woman do it and not men," he said with bitterness in his voice.

"Tsunade-sama and Sakura will help us."

Naruto sighed. "Can we... can we just pretend nothing happened for a while?"

Sasuke pushed Naruto a bit forward so he could look at him. Naruto looked away from him.

"But we can't ignore this forever."

"I know, I just..." Naruto turned to stare at Sasuke's chest while his hands moved up and gripped his shirt. "I just don't want to think about it right now."

"Okay." Sasuke stroked over Naruto's bare arms. "Since you are all dried up now, and my shirt is wet, we better change."

Naruto gave a small smile and turned away from Sasuke toward the closet.

Naruto had asked Sasuke not to talk about it, but all he did now was think about it. Perhaps this hadn't been such a good idea. He wished he could just forget about it for a while, but he couldn't.

-X-

A week later Naruto was standing behind the sink in the kitchen, absentmindedly cutting a cucumber.

He hadn't been allowed on missions (though he had begged Tsunade endlessly to give him even the most simple and boring D-rank mission she had), but he could still teach and train his students. But even they had noticed something was wrong. A few days ago he'd tried to train them, but his mind wasn't on the teaching at all as it kept drifting away; his team had finally told him to just go home.

He hadn't been able to tell them, or anyone else for that matter, about the pregnancy. He still had trouble believing it himself, and he couldn't seem to distract himself enough to not think about it.

A thing was growing inside of him and it made him sick, literally. Cramps in his stomach caused him to lay awake for hours, or cringe at certain moments, which sometimes could be quite inconvenient. He had to try and explain to his team everything was fine, while he was unable to stand up straight. On top of that, he had to fend off Ryomaru and his glowing medical hands, which had almost become a disaster.

"Naruto?"

Naruto woke up from his thoughts and turned around. "Huh?"

"You didn't hear a single word of what I just said, didn't you?" Sasuke asked him as his hands were lying on top of a newspaper on the table.

"Aah, gomen." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I think I spaced out a bit, I didn't sleep a lot last night."

"That was what I was talking about."

"Oh."

"You were in pain again?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied softly and sat down at the table with his plate full of cucumber slices, carrots and bread.

He'd had more and more stabbing pains in his abdomen in the last week. Sakura had said it was because the womb kept changing the organic material, and was trying to get stronger and more stable, which might cause some discomfort as it took the organic material from tissue around it (his organs and so). Sure, _'some'_ discomfort. It felt like someone was scraping his insides. ("_Now you know what it's like to be menstruating,_" Sakura had told him; Naruto hadn't liked to hear that fact).

Naruto looked at Sasuke before he turned to his food and began to eat. Sasuke returned to the newspaper even though his eyes were hardly able to turn away from Naruto.

Naruto had these cramps, and he himself was still puking at least twice a day. The medicine had lessened it somewhat and he finally began to feel more like himself again, mood-wise.

Suddenly Sasuke heard some sniffing and looked up, was Naruto crying? He seemed to be close to doing so as he let his fork fall and wiped his eyes. "What's-?" he sniffed.

"Are you all right?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto looked up through watery eyes. "I- this…"

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked, laying the newspaper down on the table so he could watch Naruto. This had to come from somewhere, Naruto never started crying out of the blue.

"I just- I feel so…" He looked up to Sasuke. "It's like I'm in someone else's body, it feels so… I don't know, strange? Like I'm not in control."

"In the way that it doesn't do what you want?" Sasuke asked; he had the feeling Naruto felt the same as he had the last couple of weeks.

Naruto sighed heavily. "I feel… out of place, like there's something wrong." He wrapped his arms around himself. "In the way that it feels different." He shivered a bit.

Sasuke stood up, walked around the table and hugged him from behind. "I'm here to help you, just like Sakura and Tsunade. You are not alone in this."

Naruto sniffed once more and nodded. "I know."

"Feeling better?"

"I'm sorry; I don't know where that came from." Naruto picked up his fork again and began eating.

Sasuke went back to his own chair. He watched Naruto eat in silence. Was that just now... a mood swing?

"Do you have a mission soon?" Naruto asked, his voice quite normal again.

"No," Sasuke said. "Not yet, I guess Tsunade is giving me some time to get better and be with you."

"How kind of her," Naruto said with mock kindness.

"She's worried too."

"Who isn't?"

Sasuke's eyes widened a bit before he looked down at the newspaper again.

Naruto had noticed and narrowed his eyes. "You don't have to walk around, knowing something is growing inside of you for the next 27 weeks!"

Sasuke didn't respond, not sure how to. He wouldn't know what it was like, having a baby growing inside you for 38 weeks.

In a normal woman's pregnancy, it would last more or less 40 weeks, but that was counted from the last menstruation period, and since Naruto did not have that, they had started counting from the moment the jutsu had happened, making it sound like he was two weeks behind 'schedule'. So when Naruto was now 11 weeks along, it meant 13. Sakura had been so kind to explain that all.

"Shall we go for a walk later? I want to do something besides sitting in the house," Naruto asked, having calmed down after the few minutes of silence.

"Sure."

Naruto grinned and put the last piece of carrot in his mouth. "I'm going to take a shower first." He stood up and left the kitchen.

Sasuke 'hn'ed. Naruto hadn't been very emotional until know. He wondered what he was in for. He picked up the paper once more, and straightened it before continuing reading. Suddenly he heard a loud thud upstairs. At first he didn't think any of it, but the next second he started to worry. What if something had happened to Naruto? Within seconds he was upstairs.

"Naruto?" he asked concerned, looking around the room.

Naruto was leaning at the foot of the bed, sitting on his knees, panting.

"What happened?" Sasuke walked over to him, hunching down.

"Everything became dark suddenly," his eyes turned upwards and he fell limply against Sasuke.

"Naruto?" Sasuke shook the blond lightly. "Naruto?" He looked a bit pale.

Sasuke thought about what Tsunade had told him. If something happened to Naruto he was to come to her or Sakura immediately.

x-

Naruto sat up slowly from the examination table in Sakura's office, as she took the paper on which she had made some notes to her desk.

Sasuke and Naruto followed her there.

"It seems the jutsu also activated some hormonal stimulation within you, and just like with Sasuke, it's not in balance. Plus the hormones you're making aren't all the right ones. You don't have all the hormones that are needed for a pregnancy."

"Nor the parts," Naruto said stubbornly, his hands gripping around his upper arms.

"No…" Sakura said sadly.

"How will it-" Naruto gasped as he changed his mind, feeling like he was probably better off not knowing.

Sakura looked up to him. "We can always perform a caesarean section when the time comes."

"Or?" Naruto felt like there was an 'or' involved.

"Or it might come out some other way that might present itself in time, we don't know."

Naruto looked shocked. "W-what?" He stood up and almost stumbled over the chair, but Sasuke caught him.

"You should have kept that last part to yourself," Sasuke said.

Sakura looked a bit guilty. "I'm sorry; I don't really think something like that could happen. I was just teasing you, trying to cheer you up."

"Then it's not funny. Sakura-chan, please don't say anything like that again, okay? I'm scared enough as it is."

Sakura looked up to Naruto a bit shocked at the honest statement. Naruto was staring at his feet, and Sasuke slowly began to pull him down to sit.

"I'm really sorry Naruto. I wasn't thinking."

Naruto nodded, he moved his tail as to not sit on it when he lowered into the chair.

"What now?" Sasuke asked, trying to continue their original conversation.

"Hm? Oh, right, the hormones." Sakura shuffled through some papers on her desk. "I eh-" she couldn't find the right paper.

Sasuke grasped the paper on which she had made her notes not that long ago, and handed it to her. "Calm down."

Sakura accepted it and took in a breath to calm down. "We can give you some medicine that will stimulate your own hormones and that will give you the extra hormones you can't make yourself."

Naruto nodded, he had become very silent. Sasuke glanced at him out of the corners of his eyes.

"Everything else is fine?" Sasuke asked Sakura.

"Yes."

"Then we can go home, and you can get some rest," Sasuke stood up and turned to Naruto, "You seem tired."

Naruto nodded again. "Thanks Sakura-chan."

Sakura smiled back, but Naruto probably couldn't see it as he turned around, still looking at his feet.

-x-

When they arrived at their house, everything was silent; Akira was still at the academy after all.

"You want me to carry you upstairs?" Sasuke asked with mischief in his voice.

Naruto looked at him. "I can still walk."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I can't carry you upstairs," Sasuke continued, his hands roaming over Naruto's sides.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "I don't trust this side of you." He didn't even attempt at removing the hands, obviously liking the feeling.

"Hm?" Sasuke hummed.

Naruto started walking up the stairs, walking out of Sasuke's hands, but he was soon intercepted by a grinning Sasuke.

"Sasuke~," he whined, but he didn't resist. "Guess your hormonal balance isn't that stable yet."

Upstairs Sasuke laid Naruto on the bed and hung above him. Naruto smiled back and started kissing Sasuke on the lips. He took off Sasuke's shirt and Sasuke did the same to Naruto.

"I knew you still had some energy," Sasuke said happily.

"Lots," Naruto said, though they both knew it wasn't true. Not at this moment.

Sasuke moved his hands over Naruto's abdomen, at which Naruto pushed his hands aside and instead let his own hands rest on Sasuke's hips as he kissed him.

_Okay, so his abdomen still hurt, the rest isn't off limits._ Sasuke smirked and pulled away from Naruto's mouth and instead began kissing his chest.

After a while he felt Naruto's hands slowly slip off his hips. When he looked up he saw Naruto was asleep. Sasuke huffed. _Sure, why not._

-oXo-

Next: The realization


	5. Chapter 5: The Realization

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Thanks to my beta MS3923 :)

Note: this chapter was edited on 15-05-2014

-oXo-

_**Chapter 5: The realization**_

_4__th__ of January _

Naruto and Sasuke had been for a walk through Konoha, and as they were on their way home, they passed Kakashi's house. Anko was sitting in the living room, preparing some tea.

As they moved by, Anko saw them walking and quickly ran to the door. They were already at the next house when they heard her scream. "Hey guys, come over for some tea!"

Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at Anko and then to face each other.

Naruto grinned. "Why not?" He shrugged as he asked Sasuke.

Sasuke grunted in reply, but he was glad Naruto wanted to visit her.

They walked back to the house, and sat down at the table. They knew Anko liked tea ceremonies, and liked them even more when she could share them. She poured them all a cup and sat down.

"How are you two?" she asked.

"Fine," Naruto answered as he looked at the tea he was stirring.

Anko looked up to him, and then to Sasuke, who shrugged. At that moment Kakashi stepped into the room with his four months old child in his arms. "Ohayo."

"Hey Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said softly, as he looked at the baby in his arms. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought that they too, would have a baby. He tried to push it back however.

Kakashi looked from Naruto, and then to Sasuke, who stared in front of him with a straight face.

"How's Sakumo-chan doing?" Naruto asked, smiling at the baby boy in his sensei's arms, trying to act more like himself.

"Fine, he's starting to sleep through the night instead of waking up at 3 in the morning," Anko replied.

Sakumo looked from his father to Naruto, as if trying to see everything around him. He sure was as active as his mother, but he looked an awful lot like Kakashi. He had white, silvery tufts of hair sticking out at odd angles on his head, leaning slightly to his left. His dark brown pupil-less eyes, a mix between Kakashi's black and Anko's light brown eyes, stared into bright blue.

Anko had once said Sakumo liked to look into Naruto's eyes. Naruto himself, however, was convinced it were the ears that he liked so much about him.

Kakashi handed the baby boy carefully to Naruto. "Here," he said, still holding him as Naruto hesitantly took the baby in his arms.

"Hey there," Naruto said softly to the baby, as he adjusted his arms around the small child, and held him firmly to his chest so Kakashi could let go.

Naruto smiled as he felt small hands grasping him. He looked over to Sasuke and saw him staring at the baby. Till this day the raven had held him only twice, and both times the small boy had begun to cry. Now Sasuke didn't even come near him again. Naruto had told him he shouldn't frown so much when he was near the baby. Sasuke had not liked the comment.

This time, Naruto knew the frown had nothing to do with thinking about his bad baby skills, but with what Naruto thought of as well. Was this what they were facing? Suddenly, it didn't seem that bad anymore to Naruto, as he held the baby a bit away from his chest so he could look at him. He twitched his ears, and the boy began to smile.

"He's so easy," Naruto said as he twitched his ears again, and Sakumo started giggling. He started smiling himself. Sasuke hadn't seen that smile in a while now and stared at the relation between Naruto and the baby.

"If only we had such ears too," Anko grinned.

"Life would be so much easier for parents," Naruto grinned back at Anko. Anko nodded, as did Kakashi.

Sasuke now almost glared at Naruto and the laughing baby. He couldn't believe Naruto was this happy so suddenly.

"I only wish I could do the same to make Sasuke laugh," Naruto grinned, his happy mood was driving away all his fears all of a sudden. He made the baby laugh as much as the baby made him cheerful. He turned his head to Sasuke and moved his ears. Sasuke just glared back.

"Come on Sasuke, smile~," Naruto grinned.

No response. (Well not from Sasuke anyway, Anko was starting to laugh though).

Naruto sighed. "You know he only cries because you act all stiff, and look grumpy when you hold him, right?"

This did have an effect; a slap on the back of his head to be precise.

"Itai." Naruto carefully held Sakumo closer, so he wouldn't drop him or anything. Sakumo's laughing quietly died down as he was resting against Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto glared at Sasuke. "Watch it."

Sasuke seemed a bit taken back by what he had done, but didn't really show so to the others. Or at least he tried not to show.

Naruto felt Sakumo breathing quietly against his chest and suddenly realized the baby boy had fallen asleep.

"He fell asleep, _again_..." Naruto pouted. It was quite interesting how animals only seemed to be able to sense the 'Kyuubi' inside his chakra and were mostly scared of him. However, small children and babies seemed to sense the 'good' and warmth in his chakra, and were attracted by it.

"That's why I gave him to you, he had trouble sleeping," Kakashi admitted.

"Kakashi-sensei~"

"Shh, you'll wake him." Kakashi looked at his sleeping son, as the tiny fists slowly gripped Naruto's sweater, clenching and unclenching his tiny hands. Naruto squinted his eyes at Kakashi.

They chatted a bit and Anko began telling about a mission from long ago. That woman could tell stories.

Naruto's tea was getting cold as he didn't dare to let a hand go from the baby. Somehow women made this seem so easy, moving around with a baby (sometimes even in one arm!), but Naruto was scared he would break the frail baby. And thus he held Sakumo securely against his chest, holding him with both hands. He didn't mind his tea getting cold; for the first time in two weeks he was laughing again.

"Haha, you certainly have the craziest missions," Naruto laughed.

"I know, and I didn't even tell you about the one when I went to this small town to the west," Anko said smiling. Suddenly, she saw he hadn't touched his tea yet. "Ah, your tea is all cold. I'll make you some more." She took a new cup from somewhere, and poured in some warm tea.

"Er, thanks. Still don't know how to drin-" Suddenly Naruto froze up and doubled over.

Sasuke was just in time to catch Sakumo to be sure he wouldn't fall, and carefully heaved him to his own chest, forgetting his baby-fears for a second. Naruto's hand went to his stomach, and Kakashi tried to help him in some way as Naruto groaned in pain.

"Cramp?" Sasuke asked a bit concerned.

Naruto nodded, and then stood up and ran to the kitchen.

This had happened the day before as well. Naruto had gotten cramps, and then had become nauseous.

They could hear Naruto heave into the sink. "What's wrong with him?" Anko asked.

"A bit sick," Sasuke said as he tried to give the baby back to Kakashi, who purposely ignored his intentions.

"A bit sick?" Anko asked and like Kakashi she was trying to remember a time she had _ever_ seen Naruto ill (like really sick).

"You know he can probably hear you from the kitchen," Sasuke warned.

Sakumo began to wake up, and Sasuke didn't know what to do with the baby, yet still Kakashi kept ignoring him. "Kakashi," he finally said with a warning in his voice, as he started to panic a little.

Kakashi looked at him, raising an eyebrow. Sasuke could kick him for it, trying to act like nothing was wrong. "Take the baby," he almost demanded.

"But Sakumo likes it there."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.

In the kitchen they could hear water running.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" Anko asked.

"Kakashi~," Sasuke growled.

Naruto came back into the room and sat down again.

"I'm fine," he said to answer Anko. Grumpily he grabbed his cup, and began drinking the tea.

Kakashi and Anko looked at the blond with wide eyes, as he sat drinking his tea so quickly after having emptied his stomach. They were getting worried now.

Sakumo began to squirm, and Sasuke decided to take matters into his own hands; he walked over to Anko and gave her the baby. As he sat down again, Kakashi suddenly spoke.

"So, you want to tell us what's wrong?" He looked seriously from Naruto to Sasuke. His voice had not been demanding, but soft and calm.

Naruto's eyes widened and then he looked at the table. Naruto had shut down, that simple question had made him close up. He didn't know what to say to it. So now glances were directed to Sasuke.

He sighed. "The jutsu," he said almost heavily.

Anko blinked at him while Kakashi stayed calm, not showing anything yet, waiting for the rest to follow.

"You remember when we were hit with that unknown jutsu two months ago-" Sasuke looked at Kakashi and he nodded. Anko did too. "It's not so unknown anymore." Sasuke glanced at Naruto as he clenched his fists under the table, and his tail hit the floor angrily.

Naruto had only told one other person until now: Iruka. Iruka had gaped at Naruto for quite a while before he had hugged him very tightly. Naruto had been quite surprised at his reaction, but it had been better than what he'd imagined. However, he didn't think Kakashi would react in such a way, and honestly he didn't want him to.

Silence hung in the air as Sasuke searched for words to explain the situation, and Naruto waited for him to do so.

"We found out about two weeks ago what the... the effect of the jutsu is." Sasuke saw how Naruto bit his lip.

Kakashi turned to Naruto as well now, since seeing it mainly had to do with him. It almost seemed like Naruto was shivering slightly.

"Sasuke got sick," Naruto suddenly said, still looking at the table. "When we went to Sakura-chan to..." Suddenly he gasped and stood up, walking over to the window. He couldn't sit at the table any longer.

Anko and Kakashi followed him with their eyes. Kakashi was beginning to wonder if it perhaps wasn't about Naruto.

"She found out the jutsu was the cause. Nothing serious." Sasuke spoke as he watched Naruto's back. Naruto almost seemed to crunch the windowsill with his tight grasp. His tail was awfully still.

"She wanted to check Naruto up as well, to be sure." He turned his attention to Kakashi and Anko instead. "The real reason for the jutsu was to make... Naruto is..."

_Why couldn't he say it? _

Silence fell as Sasuke tried to find another way to say this without using that one word. That word they both had been avoiding for the last two weeks as much as possible. That one simple, but still very hard to pronounce word...

"Pregnant," Naruto said, almost blurting it out.

"Excuse me?" Anko said, looking back to Naruto.

"I'm..." Naruto seemed unable to put the two words together in one sentence as well. So instead his mouth seemed to say every other thing he'd wanted to say for these past two weeks. "That fucking old man. He was experimenting on men to get..." He gasped. His tail began to sweep again in jerky movements, his ears lay flat. "Fucking up things like this. Women are supposed to have children and there's a reason for that! What was he thinking?" His voice slowly rose with each sentence and Sakumo woke up. "Men don't get pregnant! They can't produce children! Why would he want to do that to them? _To me?_ Why did he do it to me? Am I not freaky enough the way I am?! I don't need... I don't want... I'm not made for this!" Tears were rolling down his face. He was finally saying what he hadn't been able to say for weeks; that what scared him the most.

"I don't feel like myself. I feel... out of place... again. I feel used, and I'm angry. I'm angry!" The floodgates had been opened and he couldn't close them. "And it can't be taken away, because there are too many risks, but it's already risky enough as it is, and I don't know if I can do this. What will happen? What if..." His voice finally died down and he was softly sobbing now. His head leaned against the glass of the window.

Anko and Kakashi seemed to have frozen up at his words, shocked as they tried to puzzle what he had been saying.

Sasuke stood up and walked over to Naruto. "It's okay to be scared. I'm scared too." He gripped Naruto's shoulders and squeezed them a bit. "But if there's one person... one man that can do this, it's you." He turned Naruto around and pressed him against his chest. "You're stronger than any other person I know."

Naruto was still crying, making Sasuke's sweater wet. Sasuke slowly rubbed his back, and tried to make Naruto more comfortable.

Kakashi stood up and walked over to them as well. "I must say I didn't quite expect you to say something like this, but-" He gently turned Naruto around so that he faced Kakashi. His face was wet and he had red cheeks. He looked smaller and younger than he was; more vulnerable. Kakashi couldn't remember ever having seen Naruto like this; he really must be scared.

"But I can tell from experience that becoming a father is the best thing that ever happened to me." Naruto looked up into Kakashi's eye as it seemed to sparkle. "No matter how you become a father; you'll not regret it." Kakashi looked over to Anko and Sakumo. Naruto followed his gaze. Anko smiled kindly at Naruto; he'd never seen her smile like this before, and it strangely calmed him down.

They weren't freaking out.

"We'll help you through this, Naruto," she said.

And suddenly Naruto realized. He'd seen it earlier this day, not so long ago, what a child could do to people. What it had done to Kakashi and Anko, who looked at each other. What it had done to him. There was more than just this pregnancy. He had to look at what would be there in the end, not at the journey to it. Wouldn't it actually be wonderful for him to be able to have a child with Sasuke? To have their own small family with Akira? Did it matter how it had happened? Did it matter that it would not have a mother, but two caring fathers instead? No one would judge a child for that. No one would shun a kid because it didn't have a mother, because he had two wonderful parents that loved him.

He finally was able to breathe again, and slowly a small smile appeared on Naruto's face as he wiped away his tears.

"Thanks, you're the greatest," he sniffed. He still looked a bit shrivelled up, like a child that had lost his mother. But he had just seen the slightest glimpse of her in the crowd.

"Sure kid, now come over here, I think Saku-chan is about to cry."

Kakashi sighed deeply. Only Anko could say something like that at a moment like this.

"Sure," Naruto said as he kneeled down beside her, still with the small smile on his face.

Okay, perhaps not the only one. She and Naruto both were a little crazy after all. Kakashi shook his head as Naruto carefully began to smile again when Anko placed the whimpering baby in his arms.

"How you ever got to marry her..." Sasuke said.

"I'm not always sure either."

-X-

Naruto lay on the couch, watching the wall as he lay on his side. He was wondering about what was to come, and what it could be like. He was afraid of doing so, but somehow it calmed him down a bit, as well as freaking him out.

Sasuke was lying behind him, and was stroking his hair and ears as his other arm was folded around his waist. Naruto wasn't purring; he couldn't, but he was so unbelievably relieved Sasuke was here with him.

"Am I a freak?" It had left his mouth before he'd even known what sounded through the air. He even stiffened up a bit at the realization it had been his own voice.

"Naruto, you know what I think of you. And you know that everyone has accepted you the way you are. You're not a freak, and it's not your fault that this is happening to-"

"We're going to be fine then?" he asked.

"Of course we will. I love you, and I will never let you go; not for any reason."

Naruto was silent for a moment as he let the words sink in, and just focussed on Sasuke's hand as it gently stroked his ears. Then his arms reached up to Sasuke's arm around his chest, and he entwined his own fingers with his.

Their hands moved up and down as he breathed in and out, and he moved their hands to his heart. He could feel it beating, calmly. Slowly he let their hands slide lower until they rested on his stomach.

He still couldn't believe something was growing in there. Although it made him cringe in pain and feel sick every now and then, it was still weird and he hadn't gotten used to it. He still couldn't completely accept this, but the initial shock had passed, and he was actually seeing a bright side far away, slowly coming a little closer.

Suddenly Sasuke took over the movement of their joining hands, and moved them under Naruto's shirt. His stomach was still rather flat, you couldn't actually see anything about it, but Sasuke gently pushed it a bit and could feel the chakra barrier; the womb. Sasuke's mouth twitched slightly. It sounded so unreal.

He could feel Naruto squirm a bit and let the pressure subside.

Suddenly he cramped up and Naruto already knew what was going on before Sasuke sat up straight, looking a little pale (for him). He took a few deep breaths.

The medicine did its job, and Sasuke was almost back to his normal self again, but sometimes he still had to vomit.

Naruto had to grin at the irony of this all. Yes, he was finally able to see it. Yesterday morning they had been hanging above the toilet together. It had been rather... strange? Uncomfortable? Weird? Yes, all those words described a bit of the whole situation.

Slowly Naruto sat up straight, exactly on time as Sasuke speeded away. He grinned and reached out for a book lying on the table and began fumbling through the pages.

-oXo-

Next: the 'family'

I'm going to be subtle about this: review? ^^ (even if it's just one word)


	6. Chapter 6: The 'Family'

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

BTW, I would like to add that there may be some teeny, tiny spoilers for Kodomotachi, but you probably won't know what they are yet :P (This also goes for the rest of this story).

Note: this chapter was edited on 15-05-2014

-oXo-

_**Chapter 6: The 'family'**_

_10__th__ of January_

Naruto walked onto the training ground, and looked at his team as they were sparring. Naruto sighed. He had to tell them, they deserved to know. Only it wasn't that easy to do.

He hadn't told anyone about his 'condition' without reason, he was afraid of their reactions. It made it feel like it was becoming reality. Although it had already become more of a reality since he had told Kakashi. However, after three months of pregnancy, Naruto thought reality might better hit sooner than later.

He took a step forward so his team would notice the motion of someone being there, and indeed they stopped training and slowly came to their sensei. However, they didn't seem really excited to get closer, as they noticed Naruto's serious face. Naruto could be very serious, yes they knew, but he almost never was.

"What is it, sensei?" Kenji asked. "Is it about our last mission with team 4?"

"No, I've got to tell you something about one of _my_ missions." Naruto looked at all of their faces, one by one, before staring straight forward between his students at nothing in particular.

"I'm... No... On that mission three months ago I- we..." He sighed. He didn't know how to start, what to say... how to bring this to them. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I probably won't be able to go on future missions with you. I-" He trailed off again.

His chuunin team patiently waited for him to find his words, knowing that this must be something really important, as Naruto couldn't come out with his words. Their sensei talked so much, so they were kind of taken aback by this change.

"Naruto-sensei?" Ryomaru asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

Naruto looked down to Ryomaru. "Let's go somewhere else, I just can't tell you guys right here." Naruto turned around and walked away from the training field. His team obediently followed.

On their way, Eri was becoming more and more worried by her sensei's silence, and couldn't take it any longer. "It's not like you're about to die, right?" Scenarios of all kinds of awful and horrible things played in her mind.

Naruto turned his head and gave a tiny smile, which still looked rather sad than happy. "No, don't worry; no one's going to die." _On the contrary_, he thought.

Again silence fell, and they finally reached Naruto's house. Naruto walked to the door and held it open for them. Automatically his team went straight to the living room, and sat down on the floor at the round table.

As Naruto returned to the living room, after having made some tea, he heard his team chatting, and happily joined in the conversation. When they had finished their tea however, silence slowly began to fall once more.

"What did you want to tell us, sensei?" Kenji asked again, taking the lead.

Naruto knew Kenji would one day be a perfect leader of their team. He was a natural and felt to be trusted. Right now he had to lean on Eri's shoulder for some support, but soon he wouldn't need it anymore.

Naruto took a breath, and stared at the table.

"On that mission three months ago, I can't tell too much about it, but I can say that it involved capturing a medic ninja, a doctor, that liked to do some illegal experimenting." He looked up to Kenji, just because he was in front of him.

"Well, long story short; we found him, he didn't want to come with us, and instead he, eh... _accidentally_," Naruto had no idea why he said it, but it seemed better for the moment, "did some sort of jutsu. It first hit Sasuke and then me. It was some kind of strange white light, and it went right through us." He began fiddling with the edge of the table. He was coming to the crux of the story. "It seems that beam somehow -don't ask me I'm no expert- transported some... ehrm DNA," he decided, looking down at the table, "from Sasuke into me and... Well, now I'm... I-" _Why couldn't he just say it?_

He felt a pain spasm in his stomach, and he subconsciously laid his hand on it, rubbing it a bit to get the pain away, as he did a lot lately. So his team had noticed as well.

"Now, there's growing something... We're getting-" He still couldn't say it.

"A child?" Eri finished his sentence, the thing he couldn't say. He looked up to her a bit astonished, as she laid her hand on top of his that was lying on the table; comforting him.

It wasn't this gesture that sent a shiver through him. It also wasn't her saying what he couldn't, it even wasn't because of her guessing it right, neither because it had sounded strange; on the contrary. The way she had said those words, with a calm but serious voice, no giggle, no strange look; just the truth, the plain and simple truth. At least, so she made it seem. It had calmed him down somewhat.

Naruto nodded. Kenji's eyes had widened a bit, but he didn't make any other movements. Ryomaru was astonished, but came over the shock rather quickly, waiting for further explanation before starting to ask things.

"I really have no idea how that is possible, so please don't ask me, but apparently the jutsu made some sort of barrier -a womb- for the DNA that was placed in there, made out of my own chakra and some organic stuff."

"That means you are already pregnant for about three months? Are you all right?" Eri asked concerned.

"I guess I'm still not used to the idea."

"When is it supposed to be due? After nine months?"

"Not sure. Tsunade said it might take longer, since I'm a man and don't have all the right stuff like body parts, hormones etcetera, and that it might take longer. On the other hand, I don't have enough space for it to grow, and the Kyuubi inside me might make the time it's in there shorter." He shrugged. "Just have to wait and see, though I rather not think that far ahead yet." He made a painful face, as he was again thinking about how the child would come out of him.

"You can always have a caesarean, so there probably won't be much trouble there." Ryomaru tried to soothe his sensei the same way Sakura had. Naruto grinned at that.

"There haven't been any consequences?" Ryomaru asked, still in medic-mode.

"No, my body is coping with the changes. Apparently the womb isn't as stable as that of a woman, because it needs to refresh the organic material every once in a while, which causes some cramps. But it's very sturdy, and other than that I'm fine, just very tired." He gave a slight smile. "Also having the Kyuubi inside me helps things heal and get along."

A pause; then...

"It seems you have an ability to attract the strange, merging with the Kyuubi, growing ears and a tail..." Kenji was finally able to say, and looked up to his sensei.

Naruto's hand went behind his head. "It sure seems so, doesn't it?" He smiled a little. It was all he could do about it. His team smiled back.

Suddenly Eri hugged Naruto. "I'm sorry of this happening to you," she said sadly, but then a smile appeared once more, as she looked up into his eyes. "But I'm also glad that this has happened to you."

Naruto's eyebrows rose.

"You can have a child with Sasuke-sama this way, you must be happy as well."

Naruto stopped breathing for a moment, and then he smiled; she was right. Life was growing inside him, a small thing that was both him and Sasuke; something that would normally have never been able to happen. Something they might always secretly have hoped for...?

"You are the best team I could ever have wished for." He was so glad of their positive reactions. Could it be the children did not completely understand the situation, and were able to get over the shock faster, or where they just used to his... strangeness? He and Sasuke still were kind of shocked.

Ah well, it didn't matter.

"I think I will reward you guys for this, and your successfully completed mission with team 4, by teaching you the Rasengan." He smiled brightly.

"Really, you think we're ready?" Kenji asked.

Naruto had purposely waited to teach them. He had wanted to be absolutely sure they had the Kage Bunshin completely under control, before proceeding with the Rasengan. Making sure they wouldn't pass out, or even die, due to lack of chakra. Plus they were chuunin now; he believed them to be ready.

"Yes, I know so. Beside I can't go on missions for a long while, so I have a lot of time to teach you."

"Oh yeah!" Kenji roared as his fist went into the air.

"Yeah!" Eri high fived him, and then turned back to Naruto. "You're sure you are all right?"

"I'm fine. Let's go get some training done before the sun is going under."

-X-

It was two weeks later, and Naruto was currently lying on the grass in the first nice warm sun of the year. Konoha didn't really know winters with snow and cold. A winter in Konoha meant degrees between 8-15 °C with rain.

He was at Kakashi's and Anko's place. Sakura and Sasuke had gone on a rather long mission, which they had not been able to refuse.

Today Anko had invited Naruto over, to keep a closer eye on him. His stomach was beginning to extend slightly. You could see it if he wasn't wearing a shirt.

When touching his stomach he could feel it very well, because Naruto as a man had lesser space for the baby, and the womb was beginning to feel pretty hard. He had already gained about 2 kilo's (to him that was a lot with his original 37.2 kg).

Suddenly he sat up straight, his hands on his stomach, gasping for air.

"Chikushou," he muttered.

The womb was changing the organic tissues less frequently, but when it did, Naruto could feel very painful cramps as it was becoming stronger.

As he sat there, another setback was added. A nosebleed started.

Recently his body was making more blood to prepare for the baby, and nosebleeds were apparently more or less common in normal pregnancies during this time (or so Tsunade had tried to reassure him), but nosebleeds to Naruto were more like flows of blood rushing out of his nostrils. Naruto expected it was somehow his half demon part -a.k.a. Kyuubi's- doing. As his body needed more blood, Kyuubi's healing powers over-exaggerated it (quite a bit).

According to Sakura his body was probably still adjusting to all the unknown changes that were taking place, making his demon side go a bit haywire.

He was still doubled over in pain, trying to close off his nose from the blood flow at the same time, which wasn't really working. He could feel the blood getting in his mouth, so he let his nose go, and instead concentrated on his abdomen.

"Naruto?" Kakashi hunched down next to him.

Naruto blinked his eyes open, and gasped as a last stitch made its way through his spine, and he fell forward a bit. Kakashi caught him.

Naruto panted, and blood dripped rapidly down his face onto the ground.

Kakashi wanted to help him back to a normal sitting position, but Naruto held him in place, his hands wrapped around Kakashi's arm for support.

"Just-," he exhaled, "a minute."

Blood dripped on his sleeve and that of Kakashi. He felt another gush of blood running out of his nose and even out of the corners of his mouth. He tasted the metallic taste in his mouth. After that it became less and he leaned back, holding his nose.

"I'll ask Sakura if she can bring over some empty donor-blood-bags, so you can fill those up," Kakashi joked as he looked at the big red spot on the grass.

"Wouldn't be such a bad idea," Naruto responded weakly. "I'll ask Tsunade tomorrow." He grinned faintly. He had to visit Sakura (or Tsunade) every week now for a check-up.

Slowly he let his nose go, because he knew it would soon be over. He wiped his face on his sleeve. It didn't have a lot of effect since his face was covered in blood.

"That was the second time today, though it was pretty bad right now," he said.

Kakashi helped him up, and supported him as they walked to the porch. He helped Naruto sit down, and went inside to get him a towel.

Naruto tugged at the waistband of his boxers a bit, they were feeling uncomfortable, and he reminded himself not to put this pair on again. He looked around to Kakashi and took the wet towel he handed to him.

Kakashi held Sakumo in his arms as he sat down next to Naruto. The baby boy was fiddling with some toy that made rattling sounds as he moved it.

Naruto wiped his face clean, and started fiddling with the now red coloured towel in his hands.

"Sensei?"

Kakashi looked down to Naruto. "Hm?"

The fiddling became worse, until he let the towel drop beside him. His cheeks turned red. "How was it to become a father?" he asked to his sandals.

Kakashi tilted his head a bit. "The best moment of my life," he answered truthfully; his one visible eye cringed into a crescent moon shape. Naruto looked up to him and then down to Sakumo.

"Because I was wondering about Sasuke." Then Naruto looked into the garden. "He already is a father, but he got Akira-kun in his life when he was already five, and seeing how he is around Sakumo-chan-" Naruto looked back to the little boy as he reached out a little hand to him. He smiled and gave his finger to the little boy. "I was wondering how Sasuke would react."

"Hmm, I guess everything will turn out just fine."

"I'm just having some trouble picturing him in such a situation right now." Sakumo was sucking on his finger. "He's getting teeth," Naruto noticed.

"Yeah, he's crying more often; it hurts."

They sat there in silence for a bit longer. Sakumo wasn't planning on letting his finger go, so Naruto had to pull his hand back himself. The baby whimpered a bit but then found his father's finger instead.

Naruto looked up to the sun. Akira would soon get back from the academy, and Naruto had promised him to help him with kunai practice and some taijutsu. Akira knew Naruto was at Kakashi's place, so he didn't have to pick him up.

Suddenly Sakumo began crying.

"Hungry," Naruto said absentmindedly, still staring at a particular flower in the grass.

Kakashi looked at him with a rising eyebrow. Then he looked back to Sakumo while shushing him. Did he mean he was hungry too, or did he just observe Sakumo?

Kakashi handed Sakumo to Naruto to get him some milk. Naruto rocked him a bit. As the baby lay against his shoulder, he was still staring at the flower in the grass, and started purring softly.

When Kakashi got back he stopped, as he stood staring at Naruto's back and Sakumo almost sleeping on his shoulder; the sound of soft purring hanging in the air. That boy had some sort of power to hush down Sakumo, even when he was hungry.

He shook his head, and sat down next to Naruto, trying to get his boy back; but Naruto was daydreaming or something, and didn't want to let go.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Huh?" The purring stopped. Naruto turned to face him, and noticed the bottle and Kakashi trying to take his son.

"Oh, sorry." He grinned as he let Sakumo go.

At that moment Akira came running around the house. "Naruto! Do you know what happened at school today?"

"No," Naruto said, turning around to the boy.

Akira stopped in front of Kakashi and Sakumo, and gave a small bow. Kakashi gave a nod back. Akira stroked Sakumo over his head and turned to Naruto.

Excitedly the 7-year-old began telling about his school day and how Iruka-sensei had freaked out when someone had accidentally set fire in the classroom.

When he finished, he started looking around where they could start training. He was already trying to pull Naruto to a nearby tree, when Naruto stopped him.

"Go get something to drink first; I'll set things up, okay?" Akira nodded and ran inside. He had been to Kakashi's place more often, and wasn't shy to get his own drink.

Naruto stood up. "Sometimes I wonder if Sasuke really gave that kid half of his DNA; he's so energetic."

"Alas, his looks say enough." The boy was a small clone of his father, except for the eyes and his fringe.

"True."

"Besides, you're not one to say anything about energetic."

Naruto grinned. "Also true."

-x-

At the end of the afternoon, Naruto and Akira came inside the house. Akira was all out of breath, but Naruto was not even showing the slightest hint of being tired, even though he had done at least as much as Akira.

"I'm starving." Naruto rubbed his hands together, as he went to the kitchen to wash his hands with Akira.

Anko had just laid Sakumo in his crib, and sat down at the table as the rest entered the room and sat down as well.

"Did you know Naruto can walk up trees?"

Kakashi grinned to Akira. "Yes I do; I taught him how to do so."

"Really?" Akira was very impressed, almost letting his chopsticks fall. "That was so awesome, when the kunai was like 5 meters high in the tree and-"

"More like 3 meters," Naruto corrected.

"Naruto just walked up and got it out, I thought it was some fox trait or something!"

Akira knew by know Naruto wasn't a pet, but Sasuke and Naruto had never been able to get rid of his idea that Naruto was actually a fox that had turned into a human.

Akira was about to proceed with his excitement, but Anko intervened. "Eat your food, brat, before it turns cold."

"Hai."

"You know very well I'm not a fox, Akira-kun," Naruto tried once more, as he put some more meat in his bowl.

"I know you're human."

Naruto glanced sideways to Akira, and Kakashi and Anko looked up to him as well.

"That once was a fox."

Naruto's head slumped; he had thought that maybe the boy had finally understood.

Anko started laughing out loud. "I bet Sasuke taught him that just to annoy you."

"Taught me what?" Akira asked.

"Nothing, I was just joking," Anko said, trying to refrain from laughing.

"Oh." Akira didn't understand. Adults could be so confusing sometimes. Hea finally finished his meal and politely helped Kakashi clean the table, and after that helped Kakashi do the dishes.

"What's the kid up to?" Anko asked Naruto, as she eyed the boy, peering over her book.

"He wants Kakashi to help him with the bunshin practise."

"Ahh," she said understanding and went back to her book. "Little suck-up."

Naruto grinned. "Yeah, he sure knows how to charm someone into helping him."

"I wonder how that goes when two of the same kind are together," Anko commented.

After a couple more minutes Naruto stood up.

"I'm going to Iruka-sensei for a while. I'll come back later to get the kid."

"Sure," Anko said, not even bothering to look up from her reading.

When Naruto arrived at Iruka's place, he almost walked into Yamato, who appeared in front of Iruka's door just as Naruto was about to knock. Naruto made a side jump and Yamato stepped back a little, securely clutching the reports he was holding against his chest.

"Sorry Naruto."

"It's okay." Naruto sighed, and reached up again to knock. "Homework for Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, pointing to the pile of papers Yamato was carrying.

"Hokage-sama made me deliver them."

Naruto grinned, twitched his ear, and turned back to the door.

The door opened and Iruka saw his visitors. "Naruto, Yamato-san, come in."

Naruto sat down on the ground at the table in Iruka's small living room. Yamato handed Iruka the papers and was about to turn away again.

"You want something to drink as well, Yamato-san?"

"No thanks, I was planning on going to bed early this evening," Yamato said politely.

"I'm not staying very long either, Yamato-taicho," Naruto said.

Iruka went to the kitchen, and brought three glasses and a jug filled with lemonade to the living room.

Yamato sighed, but sat down next to Naruto anyway. "Just for a while."

"I heard some kid almost gave you a heart attack today," Naruto started, and Iruka ended up retelling the story to Yamato and Naruto.

Naruto snickered as he heard Iruka had really freaked out, just as Akira had said, about the fire. Iruka finished his story and sighed.

Naruto was fiddling with his boxers again, it was irritating him. Iruka noticed so.

"I see you're beginning to show a bit, aren't you?" Iruka said as he leaned forward, and laid his hand on Naruto's stomach, when Naruto pulled up his shirt a bit to fix his underwear.

Naruto yipped and turned red instantly. Apparently Iruka did not know that Yamato _did not_ know yet, and that what he was doing was unusual.

"Iruka-sensei~," Naruto embarrassedly whined as he tried to push Iruka away. Even if Yamato had known, this would have been embarrassing.

Yamato was a little bit taken aback by what had just happened, and had frozen on the spot, his eyebrows furrowed. Iruka finally realized why Naruto was ashamed and was as red as a tomato.

"Oh, sorry Naruto, I thought Yamato-san knew," Iruka apologized.

Yamato curiously looked from the one to the other, but didn't say a thing. Naruto had put his shirt straight, and was now staring a hole in the floor.

Iruka looked to Naruto, "Shouldn't you-?"

"You do it Iruka-sensei, it's your fault; you brought it up," Naruto muttered.

"Oh," Iruka was a little taken aback, but recovered fast as he looked to Yamato.

"Well, it's like this-" he started.

All the while as Iruka was trying to explain what had happened to Naruto, which turned out to be harder than he had thought, Naruto didn't move from his position, still staring a hole in the floor and still red in the face, though not as much as before.

"So that's where we are know," Iruka finally finished, a bit red in the face himself just as Yamato.

"I don't know what to say," Yamato said still trying to comprehend what he'd just heard.

"Nothing is fine by me," Naruto said. He stood up, and without looking either ninja in the face he said that he had to go and take Akira home.

As he opened the door Iruka grasped his shirt.

"I'm really sorry Naruto," he started.

"It's all right Iruka-sensei; I would have had to tell him sooner or later anyway."

"You haven't told anyone other than Kakashi-san and me yet, have you?"

"And my team." Naruto turned around to face Iruka. "Quite honestly I'm a bit afraid to tell anyone else."

Iruka gripped his shoulder. "I can understand. You don't have to tell anyone else right now, just take your time."

Naruto nodded. "Bye."

"Bye," Iruka said as he let go and Naruto jumped away.

"Is he really all right?" Yamato asked as he came to stand next to Iruka.

"He's ashamed and afraid, but other than that I believe he is doing relatively fine." Iruka looked a bit worried. "Considering what he's going through; I would have been terrified."

-x-

Naruto arrived home with Akira, who had been so exhausted that Naruto had carried him home, which had earned him a slight backache.

"You want to take a bath together?" Akira asked as Naruto rubbed his lower back.

"That would be nice."

As they sat in the bathtub, all red in the faces from the warm steaming water, Akira looked at Naruto as he had his eyes closed.

"When is tou-chan supposed to come back again?" Sasuke had already been gone for six days.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked down to Akira. "I believe he might come back in two to four days, depending on the mission."

"Right."

As Naruto had begun to soap his hair, Akira came up with his next question.

"Is tou-chan proud of me?"

Naruto turned to look at the mini Sasuke. How much he looked like his father.

"Of course he is." Naruto studied the boy.

"Because, well... when he left..."

Naruto turned Akira around so he could soap his hair as well.

"Because he was a little mad at you when he left for his mission?" Naruto asked.

Akira nodded quietly. The day before Sasuke had left for his mission, Akira had found an old fan that had belonged to some famous Uchiha. He had taken it to school and had showed it to all of his friends, without telling Sasuke he had taken it.

He and his friends had been very excited about the fan, and he had played with it. He had accidentally tripped and had broken the fan during his fall. Sasuke had been rather angry, and had given him house arrest for an entire month.

"Sasuke certainly didn't like that you had taken the fan without even asking. Even though he did not show that back then, he does know broking it was an accident."

Naruto finished soaping the raven's hair, and Akira slowly turned around.

"I'm really sorry I took it and then broke it," he said softly.

"He knows. He punished you for it, and now it's finished. You know what you did wrong and you won't do it again," Naruto said, looking down at the boy.

"I won't," Akira answered softly.

"Good, because between you and me, I think it was just some rusty old fan," Naruto grinned, and Akira finally grinned back.

"Now let's finish our bath and get to bed, you have school tomorrow."

-X-

The next day Naruto was on his way to the hospital for his check-up with Tsunade, seeing Sakura was still on her mission, when Eri came walking toward him.

"Sensei, you're going for a check-up?"

Naruto nodded.

"And Sasuke-sama isn't here? Is he still on his mission?" She folded her arms behind her back.

"Yep."

"Is it okay if I join you then? For support?" She smiled cutely.

"Okay," Naruto said as he looked out front of him again.

They entered Tsunade's office, and together they went to Sakura's examination room in the hospital, because that's where all the papers and stuff they needed were. Eri waited outside.

Naruto sat down on the table, and pulled off his shirt. Tsunade began to prod him, which didn't always agreed with him as he pulled some faces.

"Did you have any discomforts since the last check-up?"

"I have a lot of nosebleeds lately," Naruto told her, watching her scribble something down.

Tsunade nodded.

"And then I mean blood _flows_." Tsunade looked up to him. "I already told Sakura-chan," he told her.

"And do you feel any pain or discomfort in your stomach?"

"Not as much as before, only once in a while, but the pains have become more... sharp when they come."

Tsunade now began to check him with her chakra.

She nodded when she pulled her hands away.

"Everything seems fine. The chakra womb has made a stronger connection to your intestines however, so that might explain why the pains are so sharp. The womb probably doesn't need to change the organic material as much as before anymore. It's getting stronger." She pulled a scale from somewhere and placed it on the ground in front of Naruto.

"Pull off your pants, and get on the scale."

Naruto stared at it for a while before he took a deep breath and did as he had been told.

Tsunade continued. "You might feel a bit more energized from now on." She looked down on the scale as Naruto stood on it. "38.9 kg." She looked at the notes Sakura had made and saw what his weight had been before.

Then she took a measuring tape and held it up to Naruto as he got off the scale. He stared at her.

"Do you... have to?" he started hesitantly.

"Yes, you're beginning to show, and I want everything noted."

Naruto gave a soft growl but pulled his arms up a little anyway, as Tsunade put the cold tape around him.

"From now on I want you to keep a sort of diary."

"What?" Naruto asked shocked.

"They don't have to be long texts, just write down if something happened or changes. Also, I want you to write down your weight and measure at least once a week."

Naruto glared at her.

"Sorry Naruto, but we don't know anything for certain about this pregnancy, so I want to be able to trace everything back, and be able to see as soon as possible when things might start to go wrong."

Naruto nodded. "Fine," he muttered grudgingly.

"Sakura already started to put some of her findings in a notebook, so you could take it over. Just follow her example." She handed him the notebook. "And try to keep it readable."

She walked to Sakura's desk. "I want you to come back in a week or as soon as anything changes, you understand?" she continued as Naruto pulled on his pants and shirt.

"Sure."

"You can keep using the same amount of pills Sakura described you, and I will pass by later today to tell you what I think you can expect the next week. I think I'm due for a visit anyway." She gave a smile.

"Okay." Naruto took the notebook and stepped out of the office.

"And?" Eri asked.

"Everything's fine."

"Great, because I wanted to ask you to come to the training field with me, and look at my progress with the Rasengan," she smiled.

"All right." Naruto grinned.

-oXo-

Next: The noticing

A/N: Thank you MS3923 for beta-ing! :D

And thank you all for the reviews!


	7. Chapter 7: The Noticing

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Thanks to those few reviewers :D

And of course thank you MS3923 for beta-ing this chapter!

Note: this chapter was edited on 15-05-2014

-oXo-

_**Chapter 7: The noticing**_

_15__th__ of February_

Naruto stood up from the couch, and wobbled a bit as he got a bit dizzy, hobbling to the kitchen. He was hungry.

As he was preparing something nutritious (not his own idea, Sakura's), the doorbell rang.

"Coming," Naruto yelled, before he put a piece of orange in his mouth, and scratched his side.

"Hello," he said, as he opened the door, and saw Kenji and Ryomaru standing in the doorway.

"Sensei," Kenji muttered as greeting.

"Konnichiwa."

"Come in." Naruto opened the door for the two to let them in, and they walked over to the couch. "So, what's up?" Naruto asked, as he wondered why they were here and why Eri wasn't.

"We were just passing by. We just got back from painting a fence of one of your street-neighbours." Kenji folded his arms over his chest.

"Aha," Naruto said as he thought he might have heard them talking about this a couple of days ago.

"You need any h-help in the kitchen?" Ryomaru asked.

"Oh, I was just making some fruit salad. You want some too? Or something to drink?"

"I'll help you," Ryomaru said, as he walked over to the kitchen.

"You don't have to, really." Naruto followed the green haired boy, and Kenji walked into the living room to stare out the window.

"Are you all right, Naruto-sensei?" Ryomaru asked as he started cutting a banana into pieces.

"Yes, I'm fine. You don't have to ask that every time you see me, you know," he told Ryomaru politely, not wanting to hurt the boy's feelings or something; he was a medic ninja after all, and was used to asking those kind of questions.

"I know." Ryomaru looked up as Naruto was peeling the orange he'd started peeling before they came in. "I-it's getting q-quite big, i-isn't it?" Ryomaru asked as he blushed, and looked back to his knife and the banana.

Naruto peered down at him, a small blush on his own face. He couldn't help it. He was already 18 weeks along, but he didn't think he would ever get used to talking about it (perhaps only with Sasuke, and maybe with Sakura and Tsunade).

"Hm."

"E-Eri-chan said you don't know the gender yet?"

"Nah, Sakura-chan couldn't tell. The womb seems to be making it hard to look through and tell, as it has become sturdier. Besides that the chakra is disturbing the echo."

"Ah, so."

"Can you pass me that knife and apple?"

Ryomaru did so, and started cutting up strawberries now.

After a short while they finished the fruit salad, which smelled awfully good. Naruto happily swished his tail as they walked into the living room, Ryomaru placing a bowl in front of Kenji.

"Thanks, Ryo." Kenji took the bowl from Ryomaru.

"So, is Sasuke-sama on a mission?" Kenji asked as he stared at the fruit, looking for some pieces of apple and pineapple that he could save till last, because those were the best.

"Yes, he is, but he will probably return soon though. It was only a small mission with a genin that recently lost all his teammates and sensei."

"That's awful." Ryomaru looked up shocked.

"Yeah, they got caught by some rouge ninja, while they were trying to protect a man. The ninja probably took them for the wrong guy or something."

"What an asshole, and he calls himself a ninja," Kenji huffed.

Naruto shrugged. "They told Sasuke to go train with the girl today. I think that is so that they could talk about it, or something, since he lost his family." Though Naruto seriously wondered, if Tsunade really thought Sasuke would do that.

Ryomaru nodded understandingly.

"So where's Eri-chan?" Naruto asked to brighten up the mood, he didn't like thinking about death; especially since he knew about this pregnancy (which might be life threatening to him).

"Ah, she had a mission on her own," Kenji said, putting his empty bowl down.

"She had t-to sharpen some knives or something for a man."

Naruto raised his eyebrow. "Aren't there people that do that for a living?"

"Yeah, but this guy wanted it done by a ninja… Probably has an issue with the local knife sharpener." Kenji shrugged.

Naruto laughed. "Hope he doesn't praise her too much, or she might think she's too good for the team," he said still laughing.

"N-not Eri-chan."

"Well, she could sharpen my kunai and shuuriken," Kenji said as he put his hand to his chin, smirking. "That would save me a lot of time."

They talked on for the next half an hour, and just as Kenji wanted to leave, the front door opened and Sasuke stepped inside.

"Konichiwa, Sasuke-sama," Ryomaru and Kenji greeted.

Sasuke stood still for a moment, raised his eyebrow and then looked over to Naruto, who gave him a toothy smile.

"Hello," Sasuke said back, and went upstairs to change.

Naruto grinned as he pulled at the waistband of his pants.

"I guess you're staying a bit longer now?"

Kenji blushed slightly. "If you want to," he said, turning things around, acting as if Naruto had asked him to stay.

Naruto and Ryomaru looked at him.

"I'll make some tea," Naruto said while he started to stand up.

"No, I'll do it," Ryomaru said as he stood up, pushed Naruto back into the couch, and went to the kitchen.

"I'm not an invalid," Naruto muttered.

"Let him be, you can sit still and do nothing, while others do everything for you," Kenji said with a satisfied look on his face.

"You seem to have thought about this," Naruto said, eying the boy.

"When I broke my arm last year, I noticed so. It can be quite convenient, especially when my arm wasn't that bad anymore and I could start doing things with it again," Kenji smirked.

"I feel sorry for your mother," Naruto said softly.

"She was very happy to help me," Kenji assured Naruto.

"I guess so."

Sasuke came downstairs and walked into the kitchen, to almost immediately come out of it again into the living room.

"Been rushed out of your own kitchen, huh?" Naruto asked, smiling.

"Hn," Sasuke stroked some hair from his face and sat down on the ground. He pulled out some papers so he could start writing some report or something.

"How was the girl, Sasuke-sama?" Kenji asked.

Sasuke looked up to him and then to Naruto. He sighed and looked back to Kenji to answer him. "Hitori will be fine, just needs to take it easy." He said as he went back to his writing.

"You think Tsunade will make you her new sensei?" Naruto asked. He thought Sasuke wouldn't mind having one student as much as having a whole team with three kids.

"No, don't think so. I think she will be grouped together with some new genins next year. She can start anew instead of being all alone all the time."

"Yeah, that might be better."

Ryomaru returned with the tea, and sat down on the couch after he had placed all the cups on the table.

"I see what you mean," Naruto whispered to Kenji, and he smirked back.

"Hm?" Ryomaru asked, thinking he had missed something (which he had).

"Nothing," Naruto said. "Thanks for the tea."

"I-it's alright."

After the teacups were empty, Kenji and Ryomaru had no reason to stay any longer, and Sasuke was still doing some paperwork, so it was better to go anyway; they didn't want to disturb him.

"Thank you for the fruit salad, Naruto-sensei," Ryomaru said as he stood up. Kenji followed him to the door.

"Bye, don't forget to come by more often," Naruto told them. He felt kind of lonely lately as he sat at home alone, Sasuke on missions and Akira to the Academy. He missed training his team, really training them, not just giving them some instructions, and then go home after noon, which was all he was allowed to do recently. Sakura and Tsunade were really stern and clear about it. He should take things easy. This wasn't a normal pregnancy after all, and they didn't wanted things to go wrong.

"We will!" Ryomaru called back, and Kenji yanked him aside as he almost walked against a lamppost.

"Watch where you're going!"

"I w-wasn't doing so on purpose."

Naruto smiled as he walked back inside and saw Sasuke sitting at the small table. So he sat down at the table too, staring at Sasuke as he worked himself through a pile of papers.

His hand went to the waistband of his pants again. They were too tight, it was rather uncomfortable. He sighed. He was already bored, so he went upstairs and took off the black pants.

He opened his closet, and peered into it. All those pants were more or less the same size, so that wasn't really an option. His head turned to Sasuke's side of the closet. Could he…?

Nah, Sasuke might kill him. Especially when something might happen to them; like a scratch or a stain…

A foxy grin appeared on his face, and he grasped a pair of the navy dark blue pants. He sat down on the bed and pulled them on. They were a lot more comfortable around the waist. The only thing was the tail. If he cut Sasuke's pants he would most definitely be dead by tomorrow.

So he took out a kunai from somewhere in the closet, and made an opening in the back to put his tail through. He could always ask Eri to sew it up again. Just to be sure, he put an obi around the waist so it wouldn't slide down. This was much better.

He entered the living room, and sat down at the table opposite of Sasuke. Sasuke looked up and his eyebrow rose slightly, as he looked Naruto over and noticed him wearing _his_ pants. They were way to long for Naruto, but he had rolled the legs up.

"What's that for?" he asked with a disapproving voice.

"It fits better," Naruto said as he leaned on his arms on the table, staring at Sasuke, showing a very wide grin.

"Then first thing tomorrow you are going to buy new pants." He looked down into his papers, grumbling.

"Sure." Naruto kept studying the raven.

Somewhat later Sasuke looked up from his work again, and started to collect the papers together.

"I'm going to get Akira from the academy. Are you coming?"

"Sure, but you know Akira can walk home alone," Naruto said.

"He still has house arrest."

"He won't go away to do other things, you know that, and he has learned his lesson," Naruto stood up for the boy, thinking Sasuke might be a little too strict.

Sasuke stared at Naruto. "When you give punishment, you have to be consistent. He still has a few days of house arrest. He will finish it." Naruto huffed. "Besides, he has to learn for a test tomorrow."

Naruto stared at him for a second, but then stood up and walked to the door as he followed Sasuke, shaking his head.

-x-

As they stood waiting at the gate among the other parents, Naruto noticed how many mothers there were to pick up their child, which he hadn't really noticed before. He looked around at all the waiting parents and wondered why they would come to pick up their child, who would soon be a ninja and could very well walk home alone.

Sasuke was staring at Naruto's tail, or more precisely, at the hole in his pants that Naruto had made. He was frowning.

The bell rang, and Akira came running toward them. He held up a paper, and showed it by waving it left and right.

"Look! Look at what I got for my test from last week!"

Sasuke grasped the moving paper from the boy's hand, and saw he had gotten 100 points. He laid his hand on Akira's head, and gave the paper to Naruto, who took a look as well.

"Well done, Akira."

"Wow, a 100!" Naruto exclaimed, "I don't think I've ever made it that far," he admitted as he studied the paper in his hands.

"It's not that hard," Akira said softly as he peered to his left. Suddenly he froze and smiled gently.

A small girl, Akira's age, with shoulder length light red, orangey hair was waving at him.

"Akira-kun," she said as she slowly got closer. Then she noticed Sasuke and Naruto.

"Ko-konichiwa," she said softly.

"Hello," Naruto turned the paper away after a final glance, and saw a young girl in front of him.

"Do you still have house arrest?" she asked Akira. He nodded in reply.

"Oh, me and Hikaru-kun wanted-"

"Hikaru and I," Sasuke corrected. Naruto and the girl looked at Sasuke and blinked.

"We wanted to ask you," she looked down to Akira again, "to come to his home, but…" the girl slowly said.

"Oh. I can't come, sorry," Akira said softly.

"No, I'm sorry for asking while knowing you couldn't come," the girl said even more softly, slightly blushing.

"No, not at all. It's very kind of you," Akira insisted.

"But-"

Sasuke and Naruto looked back and forth between the two kids, a bit astonished and Naruto grinning at the same time.

"Well, see you tomorrow then," Akira said as he waved to the girl.

"Bye, Akira-kun."

A few minutes later, on their way home, Sasuke was still frowning, and Naruto could no longer hold his lips tight.

"So that was your girlfriend?" Akira blushed as he looked up gasping. Sasuke pursed his lips, and looked from Naruto to Akira to see the reaction of his son.

"No, she's not! She's a friend, like Hikaru!" he almost screamed.

"Aha, I see," was all Naruto said.

"I don't like girls like that! Love is stupid," Akira told them with a red face.

"But Sasuke loves you, is that stupid?" Sasuke looked up to Naruto, narrowing his eyes.

"That's different! That's tou-chan-love."

'_Tou-chan-love?'_ Naruto pushed it out of his mind. "What about me?"

"You live with us."

"I live... _with you_?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"We live together," Akira corrected.

"So what is girl-love then?" Naruto tried.

"Stupid."

Naruto grinned and looked at Sasuke. "Haha, he's just like you." Though Naruto knew Akira was actually quite different, as he _did_ talk to girls and _might_ have a crush on that girl.

"Girls are nice, but love is stupid," Akira made his conclusion, and then started walking a bit faster.

-X-

It was at the end of the afternoon, Sasuke had finished his work and walked up to Naruto, who was watching the television, sitting Indian style on the couch.

Sasuke sat beside him, and pulled Naruto closer.

"What do you want to do now? We still have at least one Akira-less hour." Akira's house arrest was over, and he was staying over at a friend's place.

Naruto turned his head to him, not really having been paying attention to the television anyway, and grinned.

"Ahh, horny Sasuke is back."

"So? It's been so long," Sasuke admitted.

"I know." Naruto grasped the remote and turned the television off. He put his arms around Sasuke's shoulders and leaned in closer, almost touching his face. "Right here, right now or can you hold it till we get upstairs?" Naruto asked, teasing him.

"It's hard, but I think I can manage to get us upstairs first."

In one fluent motion Sasuke scooped Naruto in his arms, who let the remote drop because of the sudden movement and put his arms around Sasuke's neck.

As Sasuke carried Naruto to the stairs he said, "You've gained some weight."

"Of course, I'm over 40 kilo's now."

"Really? No wonder your pants don't fit anymore."

Naruto stuck out his tongue, and leaned closer to Sasuke to place his tongue on his jaw. At the same time his hands loosened Sasuke's shirt, and he played with his nipples.

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore and let Naruto down at the end of the stairs and crawled over him, hands on either side of Naruto to start kissing him.

Naruto smirked as he looked up into those dark eyes, and let his hands wonder over Sasuke's torso. Sasuke started to loosen Naruto's obi, and pulled off his sweater. In return, Naruto pulled Sasuke's shirt over his head, and threw it aside.

Sasuke started kissing his neck and lowered his head to Naruto's chest. When he reached a nipple Naruto hissed and threw his head back.

Sasuke looked up at the reaction he had caused.

"That felt… weird," Naruto said as he slowly turned his head back to look at Sasuke again.

Sasuke looked from Naruto to his chest and back again. His hand slowly reached up, and he touched the skin around the nipple.

"Ah," Naruto gasped. "S-stop."

Sasuke stopped.

"Sensitive…" Sasuke mumbled, smirking.

"What?" Naruto asked, as he tried to return his breathing to normal.

"Did it hurt?"

"I'm not sure. It felt nice in a way, but at the same time it didn't."

Sasuke looked at him a little longer, while he felt his lower region react to Naruto's sensitive skin. Then he moved back to Naruto's torso, but skipped his chest, and licked his bellybutton on his extended belly instead.

Naruto snickered, it tickled. His hand went into Sasuke's hair, and started to massage his scalp.

"Hn, Sasuke."

That was all Sasuke needed to hear. He needed Naruto, and move inside him. He pulled off his pants. Naruto did the same, as they were still lying at the landing of the staircase in front of their bedroom. Naruto had finished first, and began attacking Sasuke's shoulder as purring arose in the air.

Sasuke was just in the process of taking off his boxers, when he shuddered from pleasure as he felt Naruto's lips and tongue. He groaned from pleasure. He was pushed to the ground, and felt a hand glide to his erection. He bucked up at the touch. He also felt fingers coming closer to his backside.

That was not how things worked, Sasuke thought, and he let his own hands slide to Naruto's buttocks, gripping his left cheek in one hand and bringing his other hand closer too.

Before he could do any more, Naruto let his shoulder go, and bowed down to his erection and started licking it. Sasuke was helpless for a moment. After a few loud moans however, he found the strength to move his hands again and pushed his finger forward. Naruto didn't even react to it, and went on with his licking.

Sasuke pushed in another finger and that did cause a reaction. Naruto pulled back slightly, and let out a ragged breath on Sasuke's sensitive erection. As Naruto wanted to return to his licking again, Sasuke pulled him away from it, and Naruto kissed his chest instead.

Sasuke pulled back his hand, and laid both hands on Naruto's waist, guiding him. As soon as Naruto was fully filled, he started riding Sasuke, to Sasuke's amazement. But Sasuke had nothing to say in the matter today, as Naruto's hips moved back and forth over his sensitive erection. Naruto's hands gripped his shoulders tightly. All Sasuke could do was moan and make non-existent words come from his mouth, while bringing his hands to Naruto's stomach. He caressed the bump and Naruto's movements became slower for a moment while a moan sounded from his mouth.

Sasuke felt himself coming, while Naruto didn't seem that far yet. He didn't want it to happen too soon, but when Naruto began shifting his hips with every movement, Sasuke couldn't help it.

"Ah, 'ruto!"

Naruto kept moving on, and licking him. Sasuke moved his hand to Naruto's erection, but his hand was pulled back to Naruto's stomach, so he let his hands slide over it while he tried to kiss Naruto.

He wasn't used to be the less active one out of the two; _he_ always was the attacker, and now Naruto didn't even give him a chance. Though, somehow Naruto seemed to know what he was doing, as he was reaching his own high, purring contently. And instead of intensifying his rhythm before Sasuke's high was gone, he leant over and started kissing Sasuke.

Sasuke almost couldn't take this new treatment, but it just felt so good, and Naruto didn't let him do anything in return.

And then Naruto moved his hands through his hair. It just felt so good, and he wasn't even recovered from his orgasm yet, when he felt his lower region beginning to stir again.

As new life came into his groin, Naruto cramped up as his prostate had been hit. It almost seemed like he had been missing it on purpose all this time. Sasuke panted, and felt Naruto's licking and kissing become erratic as he cramped up.

"'to," was all Sasuke could manage to say as Naruto lay moaning on his chest.

And then he felt the hands in his hair tighten their grip, as a final movement from Naruto was followed by immense pleasure for the both of them.

"Ah."

"Naru." All they could do was pant, as Sasuke slowly moved his arms over Naruto's sides while the blond lay resting on top of him.

After a while Naruto began to move, and pulled himself free from Sasuke's grasp. He stood up and stumbled into their bedroom. Sasuke stood up as well, to follow Naruto into the bathroom. When he entered the bathroom, he was pulled into the shower, and Naruto began kissing him intensely as his tail curled around them. Reaching back with his hand, Naruto turned the water on.

"Who's the horny one now?" Sasuke asked, but Naruto had no time to answer, and made sure Sasuke wouldn't try to say anything either. Naruto was standing on his toes to reach Sasuke's mouth and kissed him. Tongues fought each other, and Naruto pushed Sasuke back against the wall in the shower.

As water splattered down, Naruto moved his hands from Sasuke's upper arms to his front and slowly lowered them over his torso. Sasuke pushed himself flat against Naruto's stomach, and let his hands travel around Naruto's lower back. His tail began making happy movements when Sasuke's hand neared the base of it. Naruto moaned into the kiss.

Suddenly Naruto gasped, and pushed Sasuke away from him.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I'm not sure. I felt..." Naruto touched his stomach with wide eyes. "I could be imagining things."

"It moved?" Sasuke asked as he looked down to Naruto's hand on his belly.

"I guess."

"Really?" Sasuke couldn't help but be excited by that information. He laid his hand on Naruto's stomach.

Naruto grinned as water poured down his face. When he looked down, his grin only became wider. "I don't think it will happen again," he told Sasuke.

Sasuke shrugged. "I like to touch you anyway."

Naruto leant forward and hugged Sasuke tightly, and started purring again. "I love you Sasuke."

-x-

Naruto, Sasuke and Akira sat silently at the table. It was evening, and they had already had diner.

Sasuke was reading, Akira was doing his homework and Naruto was writing in his notebook.

"What are you doing?" Akira asked Naruto.

"Writing," Naruto answered automatically.

"A report?"

"Sort of."

"But you haven't been on any missions lately, have you?"

Naruto looked up. "No."

"Then what are you writing?"

"Naruto is doing his own homework," Sasuke said, still staring at his book.

"Oh."

Naruto's pen could be heard scratching again.

"What is it about? Mine's abou-"

"Akira, just drop it," Sasuke said, lowering his book.

"Why?"

"Because it's annoying."

Akira blinked. "Because you want silence while reading?" he offered.

"Yes."

"Oh."

Akira looked a little longer at his father, then shortly to Naruto's indecipherable writing, and then returned to his own homework.

Suddenly the scratching from Naruto's pen stopped, and the blond turned to look at the wall, thinking. He sighed.

Akira looked up again. "What's wrong?"

Naruto looked back to Akira and then to Sasuke. He bit his lower lip, and looked at Sasuke questioningly.

Sasuke seemed to understand, as he looked at Akira for a while, considered him, and then looked back to Naruto, giving him a nod.

Akira had no idea what was going on, but he stayed silent nonetheless.

Finally Naruto spoke. "Ne, Akira-kun, how would you like to have a little brother or sister?"

Akira looked up.

"A baby brother or sister?" he asked.

"Yes," Sasuke answered.

"I'm having a baby brother or sister?" he asked again, excitedly.

"Yes, probably," Naruto answered, a little taken aback by the overwhelming excitement.

"When? When can I have him?"

Sasuke actually grinned as he and Naruto exchanged looks.

"Around the end of the summer."

"Yeah, I want a baby brother!"

"Or sister," Sasuke added.

"No, brother, I want a brother so we can play together."

"You can also play with a sister," Naruto reminded him.

"Brother, I'm getting a little brother." Akira was running through the room and disappeared upstairs.

"Or sister," Sasuke said again, though Akira was long gone.

-oXo-

Next: The knowing


	8. Chapter 8: The Knowing

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Thank you reviewers! :3

Thank you MS3923 for beta-ing this chapter!

Note: this chapter was edited on 15-05-2014

-oXo-

_**Chapter 8: The knowing**_

_30__th__ of March_

Sasuke woke up to the feeling that someone was spooning him from behind, and who had his arms tightly wrapped around his waist. A soft purring sounded and almost vibrated through him.

"Hmm, Naruto," he mumbled. He could feel Naruto's, now clearly visibly extended belly against the small of his back.

"Can you feel it?" Naruto asked.

First Sasuke didn't know what he was talking about, but then Naruto pressed himself a little more against his back and he could feel some small pressures coming from the baby.

"It's quite active this morning."

Sasuke smiled.

Then Naruto detached himself from Sasuke and turned him on his back. He moved so he hung above the dark haired man. He started kissing Sasuke tenderly on his cheek, next his mouth, his chin, his neck and ended with his chest.

Sasuke closed his eyes, as he felt hands move all over the right places on his body and because of getting the gentle kisses on his chest.

Suddenly it stopped, and he felt Naruto hover above his face. As he opened his eyes, he stared into clear bright eyes. They seemed to be sparkling. Purring sounded in the air.

Naruto smiled cutely and attacked his mouth.

Sasuke moved his hands from Naruto's waist to his hips. As he felt Naruto's hands on his chest and in his hair, he moved his hands over Naruto's belly.

He could feel a few small stretch marks that started to form on his stomach, and occasionally he felt some movement.

Naruto moved away from his mouth, and now was having his way with Sasuke's neck and shoulder.

Sasuke brought one hand into Naruto's hair; it had become thicker and fuller.

Suddenly he felt a stabbing pain as Naruto had bitten him. The purring intensified as he felt blood tickle down his shoulder.

"Naruto?"

Naruto didn't do anything, other than keep on purring. His nails dug into Sasuke's arms, not painfully but playfully.

"Naruto!"

Naruto retreated so fast, he would have fallen over if Sasuke hadn't held him.

"I'm sorry; I did it again, sorry." The purring had stopped.

Sasuke saw Naruto's extended canines as blood dripped off them.

"But you have been eating enough meat-" Sasuke started.

"I know; I took special attention to it." Naruto clasped his hand over his mouth.

Sasuke looked down to Naruto's round stomach. "The baby must have something to do with it."

Naruto nodded.

"You had an appointment with Sakura anyway this afternoon, right?"

Naruto nodded again.

"I'll go get you some food then. Akira will probably wake up soon, so I'll just make breakfast."

Sasuke took off downstairs to the kitchen, and Naruto lay back on his side in the bed. His hand stroked the bump on his stomach. It was quite big, Naruto thought, though he was only in his 24th week. He still had 14 more weeks to go and he'd already started noticing that his balance was changing. Well, he'd already gained 6 kilo's! He couldn't believe it. It felt heavy.

Sasuke came back with breakfast and Akira followed him sleepily. Together they ate on the bed.

-x-

Naruto was lying on the couch, watching Akira clean his practice shuriken and kunai. He was finally wearing some well-fitting pants and a kimono-like jacket that hung loosely around him. Naruto felt comfortable in his new clothes, though he missed his orange jacket.

He wasn't lying comfortable. His hips hurt, no matter how he lay or sat. He tossed and he turned, stuffed some pillows behind his back and in his side, but it didn't really help.

"I'm not made for this," he mumbled.

Finally the pain became quite unbearable, and he sat up. This also wasn't a good idea; he swung a bit and clutched his stomach. A sudden pain shot through him.

Sakura had told him a few weeks ago that he shouldn't rush to sit up. He had noticed since then why he shouldn't.

He groaned, and Akira looked around. "Are you alright?"

Naruto didn't answer.

Sasuke had told Akira if something was wrong with Naruto, or if he was in pain, he should get Sasuke, even though Naruto said it was all right. So Akira sprinted to the garden to get his father, who was next to Naruto in an instant.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke looked Naruto up and down, trying to see what had happened.

Naruto looked up and saw Sasuke's slightly worried face and sighed softly. "Sat up too quickly, but it's better now."

He let his abdomen go, and held out his hands so Sasuke could help him stand up.

Akira came in again, looking around, seeing everything was okay, and went back to his cleaning.

"You don't _really_ seem fine." Sasuke said while he let go of Naruto.

"Just have to walk around a bit," Naruto answered, and walked into the kitchen to get himself something to eat.

Sasuke turned to Akira. "You know that we have an appointment with Sakura in a moment."

Akira looked up, wondering if it had been a question or a statement. He decided that either way nodding was the correct answer.

"You can stay alone without demolishing the house?"

Akira smiled. "I can."

Sasuke smiled back. "Good boy." He ruffled they boy's hair. Akira's smile became bigger, and he tried to push his father's hand away.

Naruto entered the room again with a ham sandwich. "Do we need to go already?"

Sasuke looked at the clock on the wall. Normally he would say they could wait a little, but he knew it was better if Naruto took his time getting to the hospital.

"Hm."

"Let me get my notebook."

-x-

As they walked to the hospital via a route that went a little outside Konoha, so Naruto wouldn't feel too embarrassed, Sasuke noticed Naruto wince every once in a while. He would very much like to ask what was wrong, but decided Naruto would probably tell when they were with Sakura.

They entered her office, and Naruto handed Sakura his notebook before strolling to the examination table, and leant against it instead of sitting on it like he usually did.

Sakura looked him over, noticed this, walked over till she was next to him, and began reading Naruto's scribbles of the last week (it was quite a deciphering exercise).

She noticed he hadn't written anything about the pain stabs in his stomach, just like the week before. She wondered if he hadn't had them anymore, or if he had just come used to them and thus had forgotten to mention them.

"Have you had any pains in your stomach?" she asked as she turned the page.

"No, just discomfort." He winced and moved to lean on his other hip.

Sakura finished reading his rapports, and looked up to him as she noticed him change his weight to the other hip again.

"Any other pains?" She closed the notebook and laid it on the examination table next to her.

"My hips hurt." He winced again.

"Since when, you didn't mention this in the notebook?"

"I think yesterday, but it wasn't this bad yet. After breakfast it became worse." He turned his head to her, while he tried to lean against the table in some other way. "I don't know how to sit or lie down. Walking feels better than standing still."

Sakura moved so she stood in front of him, she untied his waistband and lowered his pants a bit -hanging loosely around his hips now- so she could take a better look.

As her hands started glowing pink, Naruto's frown lessened a bit.

"During normal pregnancies, the hormones in a woman's body causes to make the joints in the pelvis softer to prepare her for delivery." She looked up to him. "Of course you're not going to do it in that fashion, but the hormones we gave you still try to do this." She lowered her hands down his tights. "So this isn't normal to happen to your pelvis, and on top of that is your bone structure denser than that of other people, which makes it harder to loosen these joints. This all will probably make it more painful." She wasn't finished talking yet, but she let her hand go from Naruto.

She put up her finger and continued. "Furthermore a male's pelvis is a bit different from a woman's as a man's pelvis has progressed to its optimum for walking, while a woman's has optimized to give birth _and_ still being able to walk." Naruto's eyes narrowed some. "Your pelvis is longer than that of a woman, but also smaller, narrower. And since you're gaining weight, your gravitational point is changing, to which your hips also have to adapt." His eyes narrowed even more. "So the child is pressing against your organs and also your pelvis though it of course actually isn't supposed to." Sakura finally noticed the explanation was too long for Naruto, as he frowned in confusion.

Sakura sighed. "Your pelvis is small and not made for this," she concluded.

"I could have told you that myself." Naruto glared at her, he groaned as he tried to change position again.

"What can be done about it?" Sasuke asked.

"All I can say is, that it will probably hurt, seeing the dense bone structure and that it is harder for your pelvis to loosen the joints. What we tell pregnant woman that have this, is to rest by sitting reasonably upright, and support your back with a pillow. Sleep with a pillow between your knees, and don't lift heavy objects."

"Wasn't planning to," Naruto mumbled.

"When walking stairs, take it step by step." Sakura went on like she hadn't heard him. "All in all it's best to rest and take it easy."

"More rest?" Naruto whined, sighing deeply and letting his head fall.

Sakura gave him a stern look.

"But then it hurts most, I prefer walking." Naruto bowed a little in pain.

Sakura put her hands on his sides again, to ease the pain. "That's a bit odd I must say, but I think it's better not to move too much, because I think you will probably feel it at the end of the day." She let her hands go again. "Get on the table and we'll continue this."

Naruto nodded. Sasuke came to help him up the table, and Sakura collected her notes and looked them over before scribbling some things down.

"Other things you or Sasuke-kun have to add?" she asked, as she walked to the table and put her hands on top of his stomach. She noticed there were more stretch marks than the week before.

"This morning," Sasuke started, "he bit me."

Sakura looked at Sasuke with a raised eyebrow. "Excuse me?" Was he talking about Naruto? And if he was, did she wanted to know what he meant?

Sasuke sighed. "I mean, he bit me because he needed more meat, although he has had no shortcoming in that area."

"Aha," Sakura turned to Naruto again.

"The baby needs a lot of iron. It probably takes so much you don't get enough yourself anymore, even though you still eat more meat than a normal person."

Sakura pushed a bit at the side of his belly, making the baby move suddenly.

"Aah," Naruto said as the baby moved against his pelvis. He winched.

"Sorry," Sakura apologized.

She finished her check-up, and she slowly helped him to sit up. Next she measured him and asked him to go stand on the scale.

"You've gained about 6.4 kilo's in total." She noted this in his notebook. "Well, that finishes things up. I'll need your notebook to decide for the dosage of your medication, but I'll bring it back tomorrow."

Naruto was already on his way to the door, not being able to stand or lie still any longer.

"Arigatou."

"Bye."

-x-

When they arrived home, Naruto walked to the door and stopped. Staring at the door he asked, "Why are they all here?" Sasuke watched his back as he asked this. He'd seemed to stiffen up a little.

The raven reached out to him, and turned him around at his shoulder. "Naruto, I know you don't really like it, but they would find out anyway, eventually, and you can't sit alone at home all day. You need them." Sasuke grasped his other shoulder as well. Naruto stared at the ground. "Because this is already hard enough for you as it is, although you are doing really great."

Sasuke placed his hand on Naruto's chin, and lifted his head up so he could look him in the eyes. "I decided it was my responsibility to tell them."

Naruto's eyes widened. "They already know?"

"Yes." As Sasuke had told everyone a week ago, he had found out why Naruto had dreaded this for so long. It hadn't been easy to tell them, looking them up one by one. "And they are all here to support you."

Naruto fell silent; he didn't know what to say. Then he hugged Sasuke. "Thank you."

"Furthermore, in case Kiba starts annoying you... at the slightest remark, just call me, and I'll cut off his balls."

"Haha, I will. I promise," Naruto grinned. "But really, he isn't that bad."

Sasuke placed his hand on the doorknob, ignoring Naruto's last sentence. "Ready?"

"I don't think I will ever be ready for this."

It was good enough an answer for Sasuke, so he opened the door and they walked together into the living room. Naruto looked rather nervous, which he didn't happen very often.

As they stood in the door, he saw everyone standing in the room, talking to each other. Some looked up to him and nodded, others waved. He waved back.

Sakura came to him. "Long time no see, Naruto," she smiled.

"Hàhaa," he said mockingly and smiled back, though it didn't completely reach his eyes.

Slowly though, he noticed no one came storming at him, asking how he was or if they could feel his stomach. He was relieved, and he suspected Sasuke had something to do with this.

Sometime later he had visibly relaxed more, though he never stood still talking to someone for a long time. Sometimes he sat here and then stood there. He had crossed the room a couple of times like this, until he was now standing and talking to Chouji and Shikamaru.

"We found some leads, but we haven't found it yet," Chouji told Naruto.

"I didn't think you would find that bastard's hiding place that easily. We searched a long time before we found him," Naruto replied.

Team Ino-Shika-Chou was the team that was looking for the doctor's research. They were close to finding his lab.

"I just hope he hasn't burnt it down," Shikamaru said.

"I'm not sure if I would mind," Naruto said as he felt his hip click. "I think I need to move again." He had been standing too long on the same stop, so he walked to the other side of the room, and started a conversation with Kiba, who was unusually polite to Naruto (meaning no jokes or teasing).

All the while Naruto slowly shifted his weight from one leg to the other, and Kiba stared at him as he did so, though he didn't say anything about it as he kept talking to Naruto.

All of a sudden Naruto inhaled sharply and went through his knees. Kiba caught him right under his arms. Naruto grabbed Kiba's upper arms, and squeezed into his shirt as he let his head fall against his chest, still panting.

"Naruto?"

"Itai, itai." His ears dropped and his tail curved slightly between his legs.

"Naruto?" Kiba asked again, concerned as he didn't stand up. Sakura and Ino came next to him.

"What's wrong Naruto?" Sakura asked, "Your hips?"

"Aa," Naruto confirmed, still clutching to Kiba.

Kiba started glancing nervously at Sasuke while he held Naruto up.

Sakura went to stand behind Naruto, and brought her hand up under his shirt to ease the pain.

Kiba began to panic even more now. This could be misunderstood in so many ways. He was glad none of their senseis were here, just the 'rookie nine' and Neji's team. But still, he wasn't comfortable with the way Sasuke kept glaring at him.

Naruto began to slip away a little and he heaved him up again, which hadn't been one of the best ideas.

"Ahh!"

"Kiba? You must hold him still," Ino almost yelled at him.

"But he started to slip away."

"Let's move him to the couch."

Ino piled up a lot of cushions, and they let Naruto slowly drop into the fluffiness.

"Better?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, thanks," Naruto said as he had his eyes closed, a small blush on his whiskered cheeks.

Sakura moved away from him, and walked up to Sasuke to ask him something, but Naruto was focussed on the pain instead and didn't notice.

Ino sat down next to him, and took over the job Sakura had started, laying her hands under his shirt on his hips.

"Just relax; I'll ease the pain for now."

"Thanks."

Sasuke and Sakura had gone upstairs, and Sakura was now standing in front of their closet, as Sasuke ruffled through some clothes.

"Is this alright?" He showed Sakura some sort of shawl.

Sakura took it from him and tried to stretch it and felt the material. It was quite sturdy, though still relatively soft.

"Yes, that seems fine." Sasuke started to close the closet, but opened it again right before it had completely closed.

"What are you doing, Akira?"

Sakura looked down to the spot Sasuke was staring. Akira looked innocently up from under a pile of Naruto's not organized clothes.

"Playing?" he almost asked, afraid of what Sasuke might say. Sakura giggled.

"Have you finished your homework?"

"Yes."

"Then come downstairs with us, I thought you were still working. Some people asked where you were." Sasuke stared at the boy.

"Really?"

"Yes, come." Sasuke moved his head, indicating for Akira to come out.

Akira left the pile of clothes, and ran past Sasuke and Sakura down the stairs, barely time to say, "Hey, Sakura no oba-chan."

"Hey, Akira-kun," she answered still smiling, even though he was already on the stairs.

Sasuke shook his head.

"You sure got a sweet kid there."

"I know," Sasuke said as he went downstairs.

When they entered the living room once more, Akira was already on Lee's shoulders, happily chatting with him.

"And a bit weird," Sasuke added. Sakura smiled.

When they looked over to Naruto, they noticed Ino was just pulling her hands back as he had fallen asleep.

"Nice job, Ino," Sakura said as she laid the cloth she had been holding over the arm of the couch next to Naruto.

"Ha! You mean I did what you couldn't," Ino ridiculed her, grinning.

"Sure Ino!"

Before they started bickering Sasuke divided them, pushing them away to either side of him.

"So tell me why we went to get this shawl, and don't wake him with your quibbling."

"You can tie it around his waist for support."

"Okay." Sasuke took a breath and looked down at Naruto. He was sleeping like he really needed it; which he probably did. "Good job." He turned around and walked away from the two women, into the direction of Kiba.

Kiba noticed so, took a gasp and hurriedly tried to flee, hiding behind people as he rushed in the direction of the door.

"Poor Kiba-kun," Hinata said and Ino and Sakura almost screamed out of surprise, as they hadn't heard her coming so close to them.

"Hinata, you scared me there," Ino said, her hand resting on her chest.

"Sorry." Hinata blushed ever so slightly.

"You two are just so easily distracted when Sasuke's around. Even after all those years," Tenten said as she joined the conversation.

"Don't know what you're talking about," Sakura huffed.

"Sure you don't," Tenten smiled.

"Lee-san, you wanna see some of my taijutsu moves?" Akira asked.

"Ah, you're so youthful!"

"How Akira-kun can be around Lee this long…" Ino said as they watched the two walk off the porch.

"Well, Lee isn't that bad… just a bit extreme every now and then." Tenten saw Lee and Akira walk into the garden and taking some stance.

"I believe you."

It was silent for a moment, and Ino looked over to Naruto, sleeping on the couch. "It's so weird." She looked down to his swollen belly. She had noticed he tried to cover it as much as possible, but with such a round stomach that wasn't entirely possible. It was a good thing for him though, that he was so thin and small, being able to hide it better, but still...

"I know; I was really shocked when I saw that echo the first time." Sakura said.

"I thought Sasuke was joking," Hinata said. Eyebrows rose up.

"You thought...?" Tenten said.

"Sasuke-kun joking?" Sakura asked.

Hinata smiled gently, a bit uncomfortable. "I did."

"That would be a new one." Ino turned to look at Sasuke. Chouji had distracted him in some way, probably to help Kiba get away from him. Chouji was just very kind in that way.

"Well, I didn't think Sasuke was joking, but he did had to tell me at least three times, I think," Tenten laughed.

"It is quite a..." Sakura was looking for a word to describe the situation, "_unique_ situation. I honestly hadn't thought the jutsu would turn into... this." She waved her hand over to Naruto. "But I've been his doctor ever since we found out, and I must admit that I have started to like it." She smiled.

Hinata nodded. "I think I understand."

"What?" Ino asked.

"They might actually get a baby together," Hinata explained.

"Wouldn't that be-"

"So cute," Tenten finished Sakura's sentence.

Ino began smiling. "The hottest boy of our year, getting another child." Ino was starting to daydream and twisted in excitement; imagining another small Sasuke.

"I think she misunderstood me," Hinata said to Tenten.

"Yes, I think so too."

-x-

"Man, Sasuke didn't need to punch me in the arm," Kiba said while moving his shoulder up and down, rubbing his sore shoulder with his other hand.

Shikamaru sighed. "He was overreacting," he agreed.

"He's probably just concerned about Naruto," Chouji said.

The three of them stood a little away, near a corner. Naruto was still sleeping on the couch, and probably would continue to do so well past they had left, by the looks of it.

"And he hates me, I just know it," Kiba grumbled. Akamaru sat down beside him and licked his hand. "He does," he told his dog.

"You know not to underestimate Sasuke when it comes to Naruto." Shikamaru glanced at Kiba.

Kiba sighed. "I do, but it's normally just too much fun to not say anything about it. Naruto is so easy to tease." Kiba grinned. "And I like to try getting under Sasuke's skin."

Chouji glanced at Naruto, who had his hand lying on his extended belly, making it only more noticeable how much he'd grown already. "Sasuke's afraid of what might happen to him."

"Doesn't mean he has to-" Kiba stopped. "He's afraid?" he smirked. Akamaru gave a soft whine from below.

"You _do_ know men normally don't get pregnant," Shikamaru mocked Kiba.

"Of course." Kiba crossed his arms. "That's what makes this all so difficult for me to understand. It's just outrageous. Absurd."

"Then you must have figured out that it's not without risks."

Kiba was silent for a moment, but soon found how to counter that. "It's Naruto; he'll be fine."

"I don't doubt it," Chouji said.

"Aren't you two freaked out by this at all?" Kiba suddenly asked. "How can you just accept this?"

"I just do, it's not so hard," Shikamaru said. "The proof is right over there." He pointed over his shoulder to the couch. "Naruto knows how to attract the unusual."

Kiba turned to Chouji; surely he'd just asked the complete wrong man about this. "And you? You think it's normal too?"

"No, I still have trouble understanding as well."

Kiba sighed. "Finally, someone..."

"You haven't seen Neji then?" Chouji asked.

Kiba looked around Chouji, and saw Neji standing completely still and stiff. Sasuke was standing next to him, but the two were obviously not talking, and looking in opposite ways. Furthermore it looked like Lee was holding a one-sided conversation with the Hyuuga.

"What's so different about him?" Kiba asked, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

"Look closer; at his face." Shikamaru leaned in too, wanting to see what Chouji had seen that the other two hadn't.

"He's blushing?" he said.

Chouji nodded, and the other two straightened up again, looking at him. "He has been glancing over to Naruto -his stomach to be precise- every now and then, ever since Naruto came in."

"He's having an even harder time accepting this than we have?" Kiba smirked. "This could get funny. I owe him for what he told Hinata about me."

Chouji didn't ask what Neji had said about him, and Shikamaru surely couldn't bother about it either.

"Sweet revenge," Kiba grinned, wringing his hands together. "He'll know not to mess with an Inuzuka." He shuffled away, Akamaru staring after him.

"He says that, but I have never seen him trying to get his revenge on Sasuke; in a serious way." Chouji looked down to Akamaru.

"That's probably because he always chickens out at the last moment, and turns his revenge on Naruto."

"They sure always have lively conversations," Chouji added, revering to Naruto and Kiba. Those two could pester each other while having fun at the same time.

"Troublesome."

Kiba walked over to Neji, and Chouji saw he said something to Lee. Lee nodded and walked off. Neji glared at Kiba, as Kiba came closer to him.

Neji said something, probably trying to get Kiba away, but Kiba didn't bother.

He said something to Neji, and Neji's eyes widened when Kiba laid his hand on Neji's stomach. If this hadn't been Neji, he would have screamed or hit Kiba by now, but since it was Neji, all he did was shove Kiba away. They squabbled for a while, and finally Kiba came back to Chouji and Shikamaru, smirking.

"That felt so good. Did you see his face?" Shikamaru was obviously not interested, as he looked out of the window.

Chouji looked again towards Neji. His small blush from before was now covering his entire cheeks and reaching his neck. He didn't dare looking at Naruto anymore, and if he did, his blush only became worse.

Neji glanced over to Kiba and turned away, said goodbye to Sasuke and left.

"You're not much better than Sasuke is to you," Chouji stated.

"He will never get that thought out of his head," Kiba smirked. "Him having a child, haha." Kiba started laughing. "It would be the end of me; I would laugh myself to death for sure."

-X-

It was dark outside even though it was daytime. Clouds prevented the sun from shining, and rain was pouring. It was almost a week after the 'party', and Naruto didn't know what to do; Sasuke had forbidden him to go outside in the rain. He had tried to sleep till far into the afternoon, but at 8:30 he couldn't bear to stay in the bed any longer, as he didn't know how to lie anymore.

He'd made himself a big breakfast and had taken his time to eat it all. He'd lain on the couch watching television, had sat at the table reading, sat at the porch watching the rain (theoretically that was still inside!), lunched in the kitchen and even had lain on the floor staring at the ceiling for quite some time.

Eventually he had decided to walk up the stairs, though that was a bit painful, so he had to take it one step at a time, like Sakura had told him to.

He was walking around Akira's room, picking up his scattered dirty socks to do the laundry. Akira was like Naruto when it came to undressing in the evening: just throw it away from yourself, you'll find it again… someday.

He was just coming up again, when he heard Sasuke enter the house. He walked over to the stairs and called down, "I thought you had a mission today?"

Sasuke came to stand at the landing of the stairs and looked up to Naruto, a serious look on his face. "We have to go to Tsunade-sama," he said. Rainwater was dripping from his bangs.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"They got some information about the doctor's research." Naruto's eyes widened. "She wants to see us now."

Naruto nodded and began descending the stairs, one step at a time.

Sasuke appeared next to him. "Sorry, but I'll take you there, it's faster."

"Huh? O-okay."

"I'm sorry if I hurt you."

"Don't worry; I would actually be impressed if you didn't."

Sasuke heaved Naruto up in his arms and they disappeared. In the Hokage tower Sasuke put Naruto down, and opened the door to Tsunade's office.

Sakura and Tsunade were already there, along with team Ino-Shika-Chou, who were all drenched. Slowly they turned to Sasuke and Naruto, as they heard the door close.

Unconsciously Naruto pulled his shirt down, and rubbed his aching hips.

"Sit down," Tsunade told him pointing to a chair, which he had the feeling it was especially placed there for him. Not really wanting to sit, but thinking it better to do under Tsunade's stare, he hobbled over to the chair and sat down in it.

"They found the doctor's hide-out." Tsunade held some files in her hand and shifted through the papers. "It's not all good things in here, but you need to know anyway."

Naruto just stared at her, waiting for her to continue.

"They also found some specific files about the jutsu he used upon the two of you," she continued. "I haven't read it all yet, but they have." She waved her hand to Ino and the rest to explain what they had found out.

Ino took a step forward and leaned against Tsunade's desk. "Yes, we went through all the files we found in his hidden lab and took out the ones relevant to this jutsu. Some other teams will collect the rest.

I also read all the relevant files we found. Most files were not so nice to read I must add. He was very cruel with his human test subjects and there were quite a lot of them."

Naruto didn't like that fact. Had so much gone wrong?

"From all the files I can say that none of the test subjects survived past the fifth month of pregnancy," she looked sadly to Naruto. "You're the first."

Naruto was clearly shocked, as was the rest.

"So what is the jutsu supposed to do? Why did he make it?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes, sorry. I should have started with that. Apparently it took the doctor quite some time and test subjects to create the jutsu, and he still hadn't finished it. For some reason, he didn't mention why, he wanted to make men able to carry children. Probably to be able to revive clans with special jutsus or something." Ino glanced to Sasuke for a moment. "Somehow he was finally able to create a jutsu that could transport a single cell from one person to another without harming either person. At first many subjects died because he couldn-"

"Please continue without mentioning all the dead people," Naruto interrupted.

"Sorry, I… Anyway," Ino had lost her story for a moment as she thought of Naruto's words.

She looked down to her little notebook and continued. "When he finally completed that stage he began experimenting on how to form a womb inside a man. He did that rather quickly I must say." She skidded through her notebook. "Let's see."

She found the right page and continued. "Yes, however the womb costs a lot of energy and organic material to sustain and took too much from the subjects. And others died as the womb suddenly began to destroy their intestines." Ino made a face as she read her notes. Naruto began to feel a bit sick.

"And others again just suddenly exploded from the inside out as the womb couldn't contain its shape any longer and the chakra burst free-"

"Ino, please~" Naruto tried to stand up, but Sasuke pushed him down again.

"That's horrible," Sakura gasped shocked as she clasped her hand over her mouth.

"Skip the unpleasant parts, Ino," Sasuke warned Ino. "You can tell them later." He waved to Tsunade and Sakura.

"I'm sorry; I was just reading my notes…" She looked at Naruto apologetically.

"Ehm, then I…" She fumbled through the pages. "Should I tell this?" she seemed to ask herself. Chouji bended over to her and read the notes.

"It's not so nice, but you need to tell that." He pointed on the other page.

"But I…"

Shikamaru sighed. "I'll do it, give me your notes." Ino did so, as she didn't know what she should tell and how anymore.

Shikamaru read her notes and cleared his throat. "Okay, so there are a couple of things that can happen when the cells of the two involved persons are merging together to one. As the sperm of the first man is placed inside the second man's abdomen it is completed by seed from the second one." He said this all like he was an old biology professor, doing his yearly boring speech in front of overexcited teenagers. Ino was almost gaping at him, but somehow his almost boring voice made everyone pay attention and turn very serious, even though Naruto showed some red on his cheeks at those words.

"The combinations of the decisive chromosomes that decide the gender of the baby, determine the survival chances of the foetus. When an X and an Y melt together, the foetus -a boy- has the best chances of survival. A girl, two XX, already decreases the chances by half and then there were foetuses with two YY. They died relatively soon, because it's a non-life sustaining combination. But they kept growing anyway even though they were dead."

Shikamaru looked up from the notes. "Do you know the gender already?"

Naruto was a bit too shocked to answer, slightly shaking. He was starting to lose his happiness about this pregnancy.

"No," Sakura replied. "It's hard to see clearly through the chakra-womb, since it has become so strong. And last time I checked the baby was still a bit small to tell." She looked down to Naruto. "This isn't a bad sign per se."

"That's what the doctor also said in his notes. It says you can put more chakra through the womb to see better, but it will cause some pain and might disrupt the chakra inside the womb for a while so it's not advised to do it frequently." He looked up to Sakura, then Sasuke and finally Naruto, who looked at his knees. "You need to find out."

Sasuke nodded.

Shikamaru flipped through the pages for other important information.

Sakura looked over to Naruto and saw his ears lying low in a sad way. "It will be alright, Naruto. Don't worry too much, okay?" Sakura tried to cheer him up a bit; it didn't help. She couldn't really blame him.

"Hmm, it says that the so-called donor experienced some changes as well as the…" He looked down at the written word. "Carrier?" He looked up to Ino and she shrugged. "Let's say lucky one." Naruto looked up at his attempted humour, or whatever it was. It seemed to work though.

"This is because of the jutsu, it says how and why, but that's not so important for the time being."

"Thank you all," Tsunade said. She looked over to Naruto, who was biting his lip.

"You better go with Sakura to take a look at the baby's gender."

Sakura came to stand next to Naruto's chair. "Naruto, you alright? Think you can walk?" she asked softly.

Naruto looked up to her and nodded slowly. "Yeah, let's go."

Sasuke helped him up together with Sakura and they walked away. As they closed the door Shikamaru turned back to Tsunade. "I have to add this before we go and you can look through the files yourself."

Tsunade turned to him, returning the serious look.

"Because none of the involved men survived the doctor wasn't sure what would happen to the womb when the baby was ready to be born, but he designed it so the womb would detach itself from the intestines when the time was right. It's not sure if this will really happen though. However, he described how one can serve the connections themselves. You can only do this when it's absolutely necessary." Shikamaru looked up to Tsunade. "The jutsu's effect is very strong, and the only way the doctor was able to break the connection was by sending a small amount of chakra through those connections to disturb the chakra flow and rip it off the intestines."

Tsunade nodded, she had expected as much; though she didn't like it to be confirmed.

"It will most probably destroy some organs in the process. He found no other way to loosen the connection. He tried a lot of things though, but even after the subject had died the connection remained for another couple of days. That's how strong the jutsu's effect is."

"Thank you all for this." Tsunade collected the papers on her desk. "I'll give you some time off for now."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Chouji said and they left the office. Tsunade let her head fall into her hands. She definitely needed some sake right now.

-x-

On the way to Sakura's examination room, Naruto winced once in a while, but he didn't say anything. In Sakura's office Sasuke seated him in Sakura's comfortable desk chair. Naruto was still breathing a bit faster than normal and he looked rather shocked.

They let him sit there for a moment, trying to collect their own thoughts at the same time.

After a while Naruto took a deep breath and Sakura decided that this was the moment to come into action.

"Naruto?" she asked carefully. "We have to do the check-up."

Naruto nodded blankly and stood up to slowly shuffle to the examination table. Sakura followed him, and Sasuke went to stand at the other side, laying his hands on Naruto's shoulders as he sat down on the table and took off his shirt.

Naruto looked down at Sakura's hands as she laid them carefully on his stomach and started moving them around over his stomach, his lips slightly parted.

Sakura stopped and looked up to Naruto. "I'm going to put more chakra into your stomach." Naruto nodded.

He flinched as she moved her hands and slightly pushed his stomach to be able to feel better.

"I can feel it better now. It's..." She moved her hand slightly.

Naruto gasped as she again pushed her hand a bit harder.

"It's..." This really wasn't comfortable. "It's a boy and... I think I can..." She let her hands fall back a little and moved them up. "I can..."

"Can what?" Naruto finally asked; a bit annoyed and wincing.

"I can feel a pulse, a heartbeat." She looked up.

"He's doing fine, though he is a bit smaller than average as I told you before, but that's fine." Sakura smiled and Sasuke's mouth actually curled up as well. He was so relieved.

Sakura moved her hands to his sides and began prodding again.

"Ah, Sakura-chan," Naruto yelped painful.

They heard a click as Sakura retreated her hands and Naruto's pelvis apparently shifted as did Naruto.

"Itai."

"Sorry Naruto, but now they are a bit better in place."

"Hm, thanks," he grumbled. He finally took another deep breath as the information sunk in.

_A boy; the combination with the highest chance of survival._

-oXo-

Next: The pleasure

A/N: Akira's 'girlfriend' still doesn't have a name. Does anyone have suggestions? :)


	9. Chapter 9: The Pleasure

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Thanks to any reviewers, and MS3923 for beta-ing this chapter.

Note: this chapter was edited on 15-05-2014

-oXo-

_**Chapter 9: The pleasure**_

_14__th__ of April_

Naruto was sitting on his knees, bending forward, as he reached over to some plants in the back of the garden. His pelvis didn't hurt so much anymore, and he was glad he could walk without too much pain. He did have some backaches, but nothing he couldn't handle.

He picked some weeds from between the flowers, and threw them on a small pile of weeds that he had already removed. He liked gardening. His hobby had always been watering plants, but ever since they had a garden, he'd come to notice the joy of expanding his hobby. Naruto didn't mind so much what kind of plants there were in the garden, he liked most plants, but Sasuke was a bit pickier, and liked plants with flowers or useful vegetable plants. So they also had a small vegetable garden, and Naruto knew he could pick some strawberries later on.

He removed the last weeds, and collected them to throw on the compost pile in the back of the garden. Slowly he stood up and walked to the back of the garden, his tail happily sweeping and swirling behind him.

The information they had learned from the files had been a big shock to Naruto, but now that he knew everything was fine with the baby (and himself), he tried not to think of what might still come. Besides he'd decided he was in a happy mood.

As he threw away the weeds, and bent down to get the watering can, he felt the baby move. He did that more often lately. Not really kicking, but moving. He couldn't deny his stomach was getting more in the way as he was bending down. This probably also had something to do with the fact that his eating pattern began to change. He needed more food and meat. All in all, Naruto thought he was doing rather fine all things considered.

He looked up at the sun, and thought he better hurry with watering the plants before Sasuke got back or Akira saw him. He didn't think Sasuke would allow him to do this much longer. He grinned at the thought of Sasuke.

Sasuke had always been rather protective of him, especially towards others, but that was nothing to how he acted now. Sasuke was constantly checking Naruto with his eyes when he thought he wasn't looking, and his hands wondered around Naruto's belly very often, especially when other people were around. Naruto actually liked the attention and care he was given. It made him realize Sasuke loved him, and was rather protective of his unborn child. He acted like a father.

Naruto walked back to fill up the watering can again. As it was being filled up with water, he let his hand glide over the bump on his stomach. Everything was fine, and in a couple of months he and Sasuke would be parents. He could still hardly believe it; not because of the absurdity of the situation he was in, but because he was still getting used to the idea Sasuke and he were 'given' this chance. That they could actually have a child together.

The can was filled up enough, and he walked around once more to water the plants before he put it away, and walked over to the vegetable garden. As he was picking strawberries, Iruka came walking around the back.

"Hey Naruto," he greeted and walked over to him.

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto said with a big smile. Iruka noticed this and the way his tail was sweeping behind him.

"You're in a good mood."

"I know." Naruto began picking the strawberries again.

"So I guess you're feeling all right?"

"Yes," he said, as he handed Iruka one of the red fruits. "You wanna go for a walk in a minute? If you're around, Sasuke can't say anything about it and be angry with me. He's so protective." Naruto rolled his eyes.

Iruka's eyebrows rose a little. Naruto was so happy; he hadn't seen him like this since he knew he was pregnant. It was contagious though.

"Sure, why not." Iruka smiled back. He was glad to see Naruto this way.

"Help me up?" Naruto handed Iruka the small bowl of the fruits, then grasped his hand and Iruka pulled him up.

"Where shall we go to?" He asked aloud as he walked around the house.

Iruka placed the bowl on the porch, and followed the sunny boy. "Wherever you want to go to."

-X-

Naruto was leaning against the bathroom wall. This was not something he'd expected to happen during his pregnancy. He actually felt good, in bliss. Normally Sasuke did things like this to him, but he was nowhere around right now. Naruto was alone. The baby was doing this to him.

He was moving against his empty bladder, after Naruto had come from the bathroom just now, and was about to take a shower. But Naruto had something women did not have: a prostate. As the baby attacked his bladder it vibrated through this sensitive organ.

He gasped. "Oh, fuck." He could feel his erection against his extended belly.

This felt kind of wrong to him. He didn't know what to do. Well, there wasn't much he could do...

"Fuck," he said again as he felt his high coming. What was that baby doing to him?

Not long after he came, and he could feel his now wet stomach. Good thing he was about to take a shower, and not just coming out of it.

His breath returned to normal, and he wanted to stand up, when the baby attacked again.

"Please, no." He slid back to his sitting position, and gripped his stomach again. The baby was a real active one, and Sasuke had said he had to blame himself for that. Naruto couldn't deny that.

"Please sto-op, I need to sh- ah shower." But the baby could not hear.

Naruto could actually feel a second wave of pleasure coming, and he let his head fall back against the wall. It felt so good, but so wrong at the same time. It made him forget his backache, which wasn't a bad thing at all, but it was so weird, as it appeared to be happening 'on its own'.

He gasped again as he felt more liquids come from his erection.

How was he going to tell Sasuke about this? Well, that probably wasn't the difficult part. Could he tell Sakura, was the question. Suddenly he wondered… what if this happened somewhere else and not at home; he was alone at home right now, but...

"Aah," he panted, and felt the baby kick a very, very sensitive spot. He doubled over and was now resting on his hands and knees. It was happening again, a spark went up his spine, and he released the weight from his arms and fell over. With jerky motions he tried to sit up again. He was so close.

"Fu~ck." He came a second time, and leaned against the wall. He didn't think he'd said that word this often, in such a short period, for a very long time.

The baby kicked him a little more, just for good measure, and then stopped.

"I don't... want to know..." he panted, "what Sasuke... is going... to say about this..."

After a while, when he had come to breathe normally again, he stood up to walk to the shower and turned it on.

As water was falling on him, he looked down at his big belly, and laid his hand on top of it. His skin was beginning to stretch almost painfully now, and he could begin to feel the pressure on his other organs. He felt too small. He was glad the pain in his pelvis had lessened to a degree he could handle better.

"This is the last trimester," he muttered to himself. "You can handle it."

He'd finally cleaned himself, and stepped out of the shower. He was in the process of dressing when Sasuke walked in.

"Ah, I came a bit too late," the raven said disappointedly.

"Heh," Naruto grinned as he thought he hadn't been in the mood anyway when he remembered his little episode from not so long ago.

Sasuke eyed him. "What is it?"

"Huh?" Naruto was trying to pull his pants on, but it was quite difficult with such a big belly. Sasuke helped him.

"Well, something happened just now, before I went to take a shower," Naruto said, as he sat down on the bed in the bedroom.

"What was it?" Sasuke asked concerned.

"Nothing bad, not for me anyways," Naruto smiled. "Felt quite good actually," he grinned uncomfortably, his hand in his neck, a small blush forming on his cheeks, and his ears flat on his head.

Sasuke waited. What could feel so good he actually smiled like this?

"You see, that there is this organ women don't have?" Naruto let his hand fall on his stomach. He felt big again, even though his shirt was certainly not too small, and he still had a lot of growing ahead.

"You mean..." Sasuke started.

"He was attacking my bladder... and more," Naruto said softly.

"Really? What happened next?" Sasuke actually seemed curious.

"Uh, pleasure I think I should say."

Sasuke's eyebrow rose. No, this was not what he'd expected. "Okay," was all he could say.

"Don't worry Sasuke, I still need you," Naruto said as he hugged Sasuke, whose eyes closed a bit.

He sighed and laid his hand on Naruto's extended stomach, feeling the baby move.

"I guess he's quite active."

"Hm."

"Then I better go again; it seems I came home for nothing," Sasuke said softly.

Naruto frowned. "Hé, all you came home for was to have sex?" They hadn't had sex for a few months now. Naruto hadn't really been in the mood lately.

"Now I'm not even needed for that anymore," Sasuke said sadly, turning away.

Naruto grasped his arm. "Sure you are, just not always." Sasuke gave him a sour look. "I guess this must be really hard on you too, as the horny bastard you are. I'm sorry I've neglected you," Naruto said sadly, with pouting lips. Sasuke didn't buy it. "I don't feel like having sex, but I could… help you?" Naruto grinned foxily, his tails swishing behind him.

He pulled off Sasuke's shirt, and pushed him backwards on the bed. He started licking and kissing him, while he tried to lower the raven's pants at the same time.

Sasuke's hands finally reached up, as he couldn't contain himself, and he began returning Naruto's kisses.

-X-

Naruto walked around the garden again, but this time, he wasn't doing anything really, because Sasuke was watching him.

"What do you think of that one?" Naruto pointed to some red flowers, tulips.

"They're okay, I guess."

"You don't like them." Naruto concluded.

"They're okay, when they bloom," Sasuke told him.

"But you don't like the leaves that are left behind afterwards?" Naruto said thinking this over.

"Hm." Sasuke was already looking at different flowers.

"But I can cut those off, once they've bloomed-"

"No, you won't," Sasuke cut in.

"Come on, Sasuke," Naruto pouted. "I can still do some things. I can take things easy." He pressed his face against Sasuke's arm, while he grasped it, and looked up with puppy eyes.

"No."

"Hmmm?" Again the eyes.

"N-no." Sasuke looked away.

"Ahahaha, eventually he'll get you with that," a voice said.

"Shut up, Kakashi."

Kakashi sat on the porch, as he had come to see how things were going with Naruto. His eyes were peering over his orange book.

"You know he'll do it anyway, when you're gone."

"No he…" Sasuke looked down at Naruto, who looked guilty and grinned like one that was. "I told you not to!"

"How else did you think the garden kept itself like this?" Naruto asked while moving away from Sasuke.

Sasuke choose not to answer Naruto's question.

"But I take it easy, I told you, and I don't fill the watering can up all the way," Naruto promised.

"Still."

"You can't stop me when you're not there," Naruto grinned.

"Hn."

"Is Akira-kun still doing his homework?" Kakashi asked, looking inside, but not finding the boy.

"He'll probably finish in a minute or so. He didn't have a lot to do."

"You checked his homework before he made it or something?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"Of course not."

Naruto kept looking at Sasuke as he kept avoiding his look. "Hm?"

"I think I'll get something to drink for Kakashi. He looks dehydrated." Sasuke walked away.

"Ha."

"Well, that's kind of you, Sasuke." Kakashi smiled.

"Dehydrated," Naruto mumbled as he walked over to Kakashi and sat down beside him. He leaned back until he lay on the porch. "I feel big," he said as he closed his eyes.

"You look like it."

"Thanks, I feel better now," Naruto said sarcastically.

"Sorry, didn't know you would be offended by that," Kakashi said, though he was smiling. He let his book down.

Naruto looked over to Kakashi "Sure. No one is ever offended when you confirm they're fat." Naruto yawned and closed his eyes once more. "I think I could sleep all day."

"Hmm, that's good, isn't it?"

"Sakura says so. I think it's because I didn't get a lot of sleep a few weeks ago." He yawned again, whilst Sasuke and Akira came onto the porch and sat down.

"Don't forget about your appointment this afternoon," Sasuke said. Akira sat down beside Naruto.

"Ooh, little brother is becoming big," Akira said as he laid his hand on Naruto's stomach.

"Too big," Naruto muttered.

"Isn't that good?" Akira asked.

"It is," Kakashi said.

"I got you some chicken sandwich," Sasuke said as he tried to get Naruto up so he could eat.

"I want to sleep." Naruto made no indication of moving at all, hanging limply in Sasuke's arms.

"Eat first, then sleep."

"Fine," Naruto said, as he opened his eyes, and sat up right so he could get the sandwich from Sasuke. He started eating the thickly layered sandwich.

"So, how's big brother doing?" Sasuke asked, looking down to his son.

"Great," Akira smiled. "I got another 98 points for my test from Monday, and Bunshin practice is getting better."

"You probably can teach Naruto a thing or two."

"Heh?" Naruto looked up, turning to Kakashi, frowning. "What do you mean by that?"

"About the Bunshin," Kakashi said. Naruto still frowned at him.

"I'd rather have Akira teach him something about Konoha's history instead," Sasuke added.

Naruto looked offended. "What? Sa-"

"You don't know Konoha's history?" Akira asked.

"Of course I do… sort of." History classes had been so boring.

"You can tell me about the Shodai Hokage?" Akira tested Naruto. He had just had a lecture about him.

"Ha," Naruto let his hands with the sandwich rest in his lap. "You know who he was married to?"

"I-" Akira closed his mouth, opened it again and then shook his head.

"See."

"But they didn't tell us that at the Academy!"

"Do _you_ know then?" Sasuke asked Naruto, having no idea about the answer himself.

"Hahaha." Naruto laughed evilly. "Sasuke, _you_ don't know?"

Sasuke stared at Naruto. "You don't either, do you?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"He's lying," Kakashi said just to get to Naruto.

"Am not. Just because all of you don't know, doesn't mean I don't either."

"But I do know," Kakashi said.

"Good, then you can tell us if he's telling the truth or not," Sasuke said.

"All right," Kakashi said.

Everyone looked at Naruto, waiting for his answer.

"Sure, I'll say it all right." He leaned to Akira, "Pay attention and score some extra points with this information."

Akira nodded, eager to know the answer.

"Uzumaki Mito," Naruto said proudly.

Silence for a moment.

"You're lying," Akira said. "That's your own family name! You just made that up."

"He's telling the truth."

"R-really?" Akira looked up to Naruto, as the blond was still smiling.

"Told you so." He looked over to Sasuke and leaned closer. "My mom told me," he whispered. "Mito was the first jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."

Sasuke's eyebrows rose slightly. "Aha," that was how he knew that.

"Make a smart deal with your history sensei, so you really can get some extra points -or something better- with that information, ne Akira-kun?"

"I will," Akira smiled, almost evilly.

Sasuke hit Naruto on the back of his head. "Don't teach my son things like that."

"Itai, don't hit a pregnant man."

-x-

The next time the baby went on a kicking spree on his poor prostate, Naruto was less fortunate. He was waiting in Sakura's examination room for her to arrive, when the baby decided he could use some more happiness.

Naruto almost fell off of his chair, as he had not expected this. Sasuke was sitting beside him, and stood next to him in an instant.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Naruto said, as he gasped and clutched his stomach.

"Oh," Sasuke said understandingly.

"Oh, please no," Naruto suddenly said, as the door opened. Sakura was about to enter the room.

_Embarrassing_. That was the only word in Naruto's head. He was leaning forward in the chair holding his stomach and feeling his pants getting to tight. He deliberately didn't look over to Sakura, but Sakura hadn't even noticed what was going on, fortunately for him.

"What's wro-" she started, when Sasuke pushed her out of her own office, and closed the door, leaning against it. A lock would have no use with Sakura anyway, so he just leaned against it.

"Sasuke? What are you doing? What's wrong with Naruto?" She pushed against the door and the doorknob moved.

Naruto gasped, and a moan he could not suppress escaped his mouth. Suddenly Sakura became quiet.

"It's better if you stay there for a while," Sasuke muttered against the door.

"Why? What's wrong with him?"

"You know what we talked about after that last check-up?" Sasuke asked, his back still to the door.

"Fuck!" Naruto tried to lower his voice, and partly succeeded. He wasn't very loud during sex, but this situation made him act differently, he was nervous _and_ afraid of Sakura at the moment.

"Oh," she said in a same understanding voice as Sasuke had used. "I'll- I'll come back later." The pressure on the door left, and so did Sakura.

Sasuke locked it, for other people, and walked back to Naruto. There was only one fortunate thing about this situation for Naruto. The baby decided to stop his antics right that moment, before Naruto could gain more pleasure from it.

Sasuke pressed Naruto against his chest. Naruto was as red as a lobster, and gripped his shirt. Finally his breathing became regular again, and Sasuke pushed him back a bit.

"You alright?"

Naruto nodded, still feeling very uncomfortable.

Half an hour later (Naruto had refused to let Sakura in before that, and had muttered dark things as he sat on the chair again) Naruto finally let Sasuke get Sakura. Still blushing, he looked down at his knees as Sakura sat behind her desk.

"Well, let's start the examination then," she smiled. Naruto handed her his notebook, still not looking at her. He wished he could sink through the floor, but that was not one of his abilities.

Sitting on the examination table, his ears flat and wishing nothing happened again, Naruto looked down at Sakura's hands. Her hands glided over the stretch marks as she pushed here and there. She measured him up and he had to stand on the scale.

"Well, I guess that was all, or do you still have anything to say?"

"No." Naruto was already standing next to the door. "Bye Sakura-chan."

Sakura waved to Naruto, and exchanged a look with Sasuke, who shrugged and then walked after Naruto.

-x-

"That was embarrassing," Naruto muttered as he walked through the forest. Naruto hadn't wanted to go home yet.

"It wasn't that bad. Sakura can handle such things."

"But I can't."

Sasuke put his arm around Naruto's waist, and pulled him against his hip. "And now?"

"Still not."

Sasuke stopped Naruto, and slid his hands under his shirt, up his spine and sides, his face close to Naruto's. "And now?"

"Getting worse," Naruto said as he went to stand on his toes to kiss Sasuke before the raven could do it first. His own hands went up Sasuke's shirt.

"Ewwww!"

Naruto and Sasuke pulled back, and looked at the orange haired boy in front of them.

"Kenji-kun?"

"Don't Kenji-kun me, sensei, after what I just saw."

Naruto shrugged. "You should have paid more attention to your environment, then you could have gone the other direction."

Kenji pulled up his nose. "Keh."

"Aren't you supposed to be training? How's the Rasengan going?" Naruto took some distance from Sasuke, and saw how Kenji looked at his stomach.

"It's fine," he said as he quickly looked into the other direction.

"Having trouble with the first phase?"

"No, I cleared that ages ago." Naruto knew he'd only cleared that a few weeks ago.

"Good. How's second going?"

"F-fine." It wasn't.

"Perhaps I should pass by the training field again tomorrow, just to take a look at how you all are doing. Or do you have a mission planned tomorrow?"

"No, we're training. Sakura-sensei has to work at the hospital."

"Do you have any missions tomorrow?" Naruto asked Sasuke, pouting. Sasuke stared back at him, immune to the pouting (or so he tried to convince himself). Naruto's lower lip began to quiver and Sasuke was lost.

"Fine, I'll come with you."

"Yay," Naruto said happily, though he thought this was only working because of his 'condition'.

"That's great!" Kenji said.

"See you tomorrow then, Kenji." Naruto turned around and pulled Sasuke with him. Kenji went into the opposite direction, wanting to be sure not to walk into them again.

Naruto hugged Sasuke as they walked on. "I love you."

-oXo-

Next: The annoyance

A/N: I just wanted to add that my good beta and I are writing a story together. It's on MS9323's profile, called 'In Finale' (SasuNaru). So... please check it out ^^ and tell us if you like it, or bring some idea's to the table :) I wonder if you can figure out who wrote what ^^


	10. Chapter 10: The Annoyance

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Thanks to any reviewers, and MS3923 for beta-ing this chapter.

Note: this chapter was edited on 15-05-2014

-oXo-

_**Chapter 10: The annoyance**_

_6__th__ of May_

"I hate you," Naruto muttered against his belly, rubbing it viciously. His skin was too tight, his intestines hurt, he was waggling, his manly pelvis was too damn small, he was too fat (walking around with such a weight down there wasn't easy), his back ached, he hadn't slept much last night, he felt the beginning of some heartburn and he was grumpy.

Yes, he was grumpy. He waggled around the kitchen as he couldn't find a new jar of peaches. He needed peaches. He _had_ to eat peaches and there _were no_ peaches.

He slammed the cabinet shut and tried to rush to the living room, but the effect was undone by his comical walk.

"Sasuke, I need peaches," he demanded.

"Look in the refrigerator," Sasuke said, not looking up from his paperwork. Akira was sitting beside him, doing his homework, and looked up to Naruto.

"There's none." Naruto wobbled to Sasuke and shoved him with his foot. "You have to get me some."

"And then once I come back, you tell me you don't need it anymore; like last time." Sasuke kept on writing.

"This time is different."

"Let me finish this and I'll get it for you," Sasuke assured him, finally looking up.

Naruto stared at Sasuke, looked down at the table and turned around. He hated Sasuke. Why couldn't he just get that jar of peaches now?

He walked away and slowly climbed the stairs, going into their bedroom. He almost wanted to let himself fall on the bed, but thought better of it. He slowly slid down and rolled on his side, curling around his stomach.

He huffed and started growling softly.

An hour or so later, Sasuke stood at the end of the bed with a big jar of peaches in his hand, watching Naruto sleep peacefully while purring sounded through the room. _Women_...

Suddenly Sasuke stiffened. He couldn't believe he'd actually thought that. He sighed as he was very glad he hadn't said that aloud. Naruto would probably have killed him; or worse… never have let him have sex with him again.

He placed the jar with a fork on the nightstand, and went downstairs again.

"Is Naruto still grumpy?" Akira asked as he was cutting some carrots for dinner at the kitchen table.

"No, he's sleeping. He's probably tired because he didn't sleep a lot last night."

"Oh." Akira carefully took the knife again, and concentrated on cutting the carrot in even pieces.

"When are Sakura no oba-chan and Sai-san coming?"

"In about fifteen minutes."

Akira finished cutting the carrots and gave the chopping board to Sasuke. "Can I stir?" he asked.

Sasuke took a small stool and placed it in front of the furnace. Akira began happily stirring the soup while Sasuke added the carrots.

"Don't touch the pan-"

"-it's hot, I know." Akira sighed as his father told him this _again_. Since the news of getting a little brother, his father had been acting a bit more -how should he say this- attentive of what Akira was doing. Like he realized how dangerous the world could be. Perhaps it were those medicine he was still taking, even though he didn't have the flu anymore for a long time. Akira didn't know.

He also had become more friendly with Naruto, hugging and kissing him, but at other times, like over an hour ago, they could be very indifferent about each other. Akira was a bit confused. When he had asked Sakura she'd only said this was because they were both nervous and excited about his new brother, but once he was born things would get back to normal.

Akira shrugged as he let the spoon go, and went to his father to help him make some meatballs for in the soup.

"Tou-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"When otouto is born, where will he sleep? Can he sleep in my room?"

Suddenly Sasuke jerked up. They hadn't thought of that yet. "Er-" He didn't know what to say. _Where would he sleep? First at their room probably, but then? Well, if Akira didn't mind. _

"First he will sleep with us, but when he's a bit older he can sleep on your room." Sasuke wondered if Akira still wanted that when the time came. He stood up to take a look at the rice.

"Yeah! Otouto will sleep in my room! Then we can play together!"

Sasuke grinned. "He'll probably sleep a lot when he's little," he said, looking over his shoulder to Akira still sitting at the kitchen table.

"That's okay, then I can make my homework."

The doorbell rang just when Sasuke put the meat in the soup that Akira had handed him.

"I'll get it, I'll get it!" Akira was already at the door when Sasuke started turning around.

"Sakura no oba-chan!" Akira yelled when he had opened the door.

"Hey Akira-kun, how are you doing?" Sakura smiled.

"Great! Otouto will come and sleep in my room!" Sasuke could actually hear him dance around Sakura. "Sai-san! You know what that means?"

"That there will be a crying baby in your room?" Sasuke heard Sakura elbow him, hard, as an 'umph' followed. "That's so nice for you, Akira-kun."

They came walking into the kitchen.

"Where's Naruto?" Sakura asked, looking around.

"He's-"

"-coming!" Naruto yelled from upstairs as he slowly descended it. Arriving in the kitchen he slumped down on a chair. "I swear that's hard work, walking stairs."

"You were just descending it, how-" Sai stopped at Sakura's look. "Ah, is this a situation where you let the pregnant woman talk, and agree with her."

"I'm not a woman," Naruto fumed, his ears flat on his head.

"I'm sorry; I meant man, pregnant man."

Naruto growled as Sai really did not seem to be very sincere about his apology.

"Come on Naruto, you know he's just joking," Sakura said as she walked up to Sasuke, and looked at what he was making.

Naruto stared at Sai, who walked to another chair and sat down. Akira climbed up his lap with some rolled up papers and rolled them out on the table. "What do you think?" he asked Sai excitedly. "Better already, huh?"

Sai bent over the drawings, and critically examined them, telling Akira what was good, what could be done better, and what was bad. He drew over the drawings to correct them. He was quite honest, and if you imagined Sai and how honest he could be... Naruto was impressed how well Akira handled the critique.

"So, perhaps next time they are jutsu-able?" the small boy asked.

"Jutsu-able is not a word," Sasuke told him from his place at the counter.

"Perhaps. We will see," Sai smiled.

Akira slid off his lap and went to take away his drawings with Sai's corrections on them.

"That boy is incredible," Naruto said softly as he followed him out the kitchen and up the stairs with his eyes.

"You can say that again, I would have punched his sorry ass through a wall if Sai had told me that." Sakura slid her arms around Sai's shoulder and kissed his cheek.

"But I just told him what he could improve. Isn't that what you do?" Sai asked confused.

"Not always. Not to kids his age."

"Hmm," Sai thought this over as he gripped Sakura's hands in his own.

Akira came back into the kitchen again, just as Sasuke placed a pan with their dinner on the table.

"I thought you were making soup?" Naruto asked as he looked into the pan of rice and vegetables.

"That's for tomorrow."

"Ah," Naruto said as he lifted his bowl to the pan so someone could fill it up. He was very hungry, even though he had eaten the jar of peaches right after he'd woken up, before he had come down.

Sai took the spoon and started filling up bowls as they reached to him.

When Naruto's bowl was filled he pulled his arm back, but Sasuke stopped him. While he held his wrist, with Naruto staring darkly at him, Sasuke placed some extra meat and other healthy things on top of his rice. When he was done he let Naruto's arm go.

"You're not doing this because I'm here?" Sakura asked smiling, making a joke.

"No, and you should know that with Sasuke around," Naruto mumbled, not having noticed it was a joke.

Sakura giggled.

"What?"

"You're grumpy," she giggled.

"No, I'm not." Naruto told her.

"You are," Sasuke told him.

"So what if I am!? You don't have to carry a child around all day?" Naruto had just lost his temper.

"Calm down, Naruto, we're trying to help you."

"By making fun of me," he said as he let his chopsticks fall.

"Naruto, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Sakura said, laying her hand on his.

"I know," he sighed. "I just want it to be over," he said softly, letting his head hang.

Sakura rubbed his back. "You're doing great. Just 10 weeks left, a little over two months, you can't give up now."

"There's nothing to give up," Naruto mumbled darkly. "And two months are a lot of days."

Sakura looked up uncomfortably to Sasuke and then Sai, looking for some help cheering Naruto up.

"I never said this before," Sai started, and Naruto lifted his head a bit so he could see Sai, "but I think you're very brave to be able to do this."

Sasuke and Sakura stared at Sai for a moment as he seemed really serious about what he'd just said.

"You are," Sakura confirmed after a moment, looking back to Naruto.

"You're giving me a little brother," Akira said, wanting to help cheer Naruto up as well.

Naruto sighed and carefully smiled. "Thanks."

Sasuke grasped his chopsticks and got some food. "Here, I'll help you."

"I can do it myself," Naruto said as he snatched the sticks, and Sasuke smiled.

"You're the best," Sasuke said, kissing him.

"Hm."

They started eating, and after a while Naruto had cheered up enough to start a conversation. "Did you know Akira has a girlfriend?"

"Really?" Sakura looked from Naruto down to a red Akira.

"I have not!" he said rather loudly. "Why do you keep saying that?" He poked his food, unable to eat.

"Oh, Akira-kun, there's nothing wrong with having a girlfriend," Sakura told him. "She will be a very lucky girl." Sakura was unaware of the disapproving look she got from Sasuke.

"She's not. I don't have a girlfriend." Akira pouted.

"What's her name?" Sakura asked, but Akira didn't answer, so she turned to Naruto.

"Kaori," Naruto told her.

"Oh, that's a very nice name," Sakura said honestly. "My grandmother had the same name," she told Akira.

"Kaori-chan isn't old." Akira's red colour was gone.

Sakura laughed. "I never said that."

Akira looked up to Sakura. "Why does everyone think I have a girlfriend? Kaori-chan is just my friend, like Hikaru."

"Like Akane-chan?" Sakura asked.

Akira seemed to consider this. "Sort of."

"She's more of a friend than Akane-chan?"

Akira shrugged, a small blush forming again.

Sasuke was just staring at his son and Naruto noticed this. He bent to Sasuke and whispered, "Don't frown so much when he's talking about Kaori-chan."

Sasuke glanced at him before continuing his food like nothing was wrong.

Naruto grinned and looked up to Akira as he had started telling a story about Kaori. "-and then she said she would come with me to my house next time, because she likes my room and the view on the street. She also said she likes-" Akira went on, not noticing he was awfully close to confirming he _did_ have a girlfriend, as he kept talking about her all through dinner.

-x-

"Itai~," Naruto softly mumbled as he lay in bed. It was the middle of the night.

Sasuke was sleeping beside him. He'd been exhausted since he had been up very early for a mission the last morning.

Naruto rubbed his stomach, the baby was pressing against his intestines painfully.

"I still need those," he mumbled.

On top of all that his feet hurting were as well. He'd been walking around way too much, having insisted he would get the drinks and snacks all evening. No one had been able to stop him; he just wanted to feel a tiny bit like he could still do something for others, at the very least in his own house. The training field was now more or less forbidden for him, and he didn't like taking walks anymore either. He didn't feel comfortable to walk around any longer, while showing this much.

So helping his guests in the house, making dinner and cleaning up a bit, inside as well as outside, seemed all he could do lately.

He was glad Sasuke had told all their friends about the pregnancy though, because he had more chance of someone visiting him, so he wouldn't be completely alone all day… well until Akira got home or when Sasuke returned from a short mission.

He hated it when Sasuke had to take off on longer missions, but Naruto had a feeling Sasuke had talked to Tsunade about it, because he hated it as much as Naruto did.

What Naruto didn't know, was that when Sasuke had asked Tsunade not to send him away so much and for long times anymore, Tsunade had come to understand that Sasuke was still under some influence of the jutsu, and had told him she would only let him go on missions that took at most four or five days.

Naruto sighed and sat up, hoping in this position, the baby wouldn't be squashing his intestines as much, and started to rub his feet to ease some of the pain.

Somehow his clumsy rubbing helped a bit, but the pressure inside his stomach was still there.

He groaned as he got up and wobbled to the bathroom, made a small circle, walked back, went out of the room to an open -and perhaps soon to be second bed- room, made another circle and stood still.

He rubbed the sore spot on his stomach, as far that he could identify where it was, and slowly sat down on a chair that stood there; courtesy of Sasuke, who thought this was a good idea for Naruto (and he had been right).

"Stop pushing," Naruto said as he let his head rest on the back of the chair. This was very uncomfortable; it really hurt when the baby was pressuring against his organs. He slowly began tracing circles on his stomach to ease both the baby -if possible- and the pain of his stretched skin.

"Hm, 'ruto?" He suddenly heard Sasuke mumble from the bedroom.

He grinned and stood up, waddling back to the bedroom while Sasuke hadn't fully realized yet that he wasn't there anymore. He stopped in the doorframe.

"Yes, 'suke?" he said. He knew Sasuke hated it when he said that, but he had done the same thing just now.

"Hn," was the sleepily groaned reply, and Sasuke turned around, back to sleep on.

"You don't really miss me, do you?" Naruto asked, not expecting an answer. He rolled his eyes and turned around at the soft sleeping sounds Sasuke made. "Then why do you call me?"

Shaking his head, he decided to get downstairs and eat something; he'd gotten hungry from walking around.

"I think I'm eating more than Chouji at the moment," Naruto said as he sat on the couch, eating. "Must be."

Halfway through the bowl he stopped.

"Stop it," he told his belly as the bowl on his stomach moved a bit. "Unless, you remove your foot or whatever from my aarhg-" Naruto gripped his stomach and closed his eyes. "I hate you… already. Don't make me hate you." Something inside him moved again and the pressure was taken off of his intestines.

"Yay!" Naruto made a small, silent victory movement. "Thank you, I like you again." He rubbed his belly.

He stayed there for a bit longer, finishing his food, but when after a while he noticed he'd almost fallen asleep he went back upstairs, to hug Sasuke from behind and cuddled him.

"You're so cuddly-able," he muttered to Sasuke, who was still in a coma and thus didn't respond in any way, only making a sound in the form of a soft snore.

-x-

"Can't believe I actually slept till 11:00," Naruto said happily as he rubbed his eyes.

"Yes, I was told you didn't sleep this long… lately." Hinata sat in front of Naruto as he was eating his breakfast.

"I'm sorry," Naruto apologized.

"It's all right; I just have to go in ten minutes."

"Mission?"

"No, otou-sama wants me around in a clan meeting," she said shyly.

"That's great, but probably extremely boring," Naruto nodded.

"Not at all, I kind of like it. Otou-sama lets me speak more and more, and Neji-onii-san is there as well," Hinata told him.

"Still sounds kind of boring to me," Naruto said and took another bite of his specially made sort of shake thing breakfast. Sasuke had made it before he'd gone away, and it looked awful, but luckily it tasted a slightly bit less awful then it looked; though still not nice enough for Naruto to enjoy it. "Bleh."

"W-what is that anyway?" Hinata asked, eyeing the horrible looking shake.

"I don't want to know myself; therefore Sasuke makes it, so I don't have to know."

"Aah," Hinata said understandingly, still eyeing the almost brownish shake.

"And yes it's almost as horrible tasting as it looks."

Hinata giggled. "You're still funny."

"Not all the time." Naruto grinned.

"Who can blame you?"

"No one, of course," Naruto said with a straight face, though a slight hint of a grin could be seen.

Hinata giggled again. "Well, good luck. I need to go; otherwise Otou-sama will lecture me about being late."

"He could use it to lecture Kakashi-sensei instead. Good luck with your clan meeting then."

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. Bye."

Hinata left the house through the front door.

-x-

Naruto was about to start doing something he almost never did, because he couldn't see the use of it. He still couldn't, but Sasuke did, and he wanted it to be done. And when Sasuke wanted something to be done…

Naruto didn't necessarily need to do it, but he had nothing better to do and was extremely bored. It rained outside; he didn't feel like cleaning, doing laundry, watching television, reading, or something for that matter. Nobody was planning on visiting him -busy with missions and so on- so he thought he would give it a try.

He placed the iron on the ironing board, and started moving it up and down over Sasuke's white jacket.

"I really don't see what this is good for; if you pull your clothes on, you won't see whether it had wrinkles or it has been ironed anyway." He shook his head. "Sasuke and his crazy tidiness."

Naruto usually just threw all clothing into the closet, occasionally folding them. Sometimes Sasuke would organize his clothing, and Naruto would just make a mess out of it again.

"_Why do you even try to organize it_?" Naruto had asked Sasuke once, as he found neat piles of clothing in his closet on a certain morning.

"_Because it's better like this, and easier to find things."_

"_For you,"_ Naruto had answered. _"You know I'll just make a mess of it again."_

Sasuke had huffed._ "I keep hoping that one day you'll come to understand that I was right and keep it tidy."_

"_You can wait a long time for that. Instead try to get your son to organize his closet."_

"_He has."_

"_Really?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Well… not his floor."_

"_I'm still working on that."_

Well, Naruto had accepted he would never get to the ground of Sasuke's orderliness. He put the iron away and thought he'd done rather well with the shirt, and put it on a hanger. Next.

Naruto made a move to grasp the next shirt, but suddenly stopped and pulled back. He laid his hand on his stomach. Ten more weeks, Sakura had said. It sounded too far away and they weren't even sure if that would be the case with him as well. What if it took 40 weeks instead of 38? Or even more?

Naruto shook his head. _No, don't think like that, just take it easy. We'll see how things go, and deal with it when it comes._ That's what Sasuke had told him, and Naruto seriously wanted to think that way as well, as things only seemed to get harder and more painful.

A few months back he'd been really happy about the thought of having a child. He still was, but he now knew it wouldn't be that easy to get there.

"Think baby, cute little baby, Sasuke holding cute little baby." Naruto began to smirk. "Sasuke holding a baby," he snorted, already picturing Sasuke frowning as he held the baby in his arms while it cried. "Don't frown, Sasuke," Naruto told his fantasy Sasuke, but he didn't listen, just like the real one.

Naruto stopped grinning all of a sudden. "Ahh, I'm talking to myself again." He shook his head.

-X-

Naruto lay in bed, holding his stomach. His skin burned a bit and he was starting to think he needed to go to the toilet. He looked at the clock and saw it was already 8:29. That was actually a nice time for him to wake up, lately. He groaned softly as he turned a bit in the bed, a small smile on his face.

He felt Sasuke's hands snake around him, and he leaned against Sasuke's cool chest. How Sasuke could be so cool even lying under the blankets, Naruto didn't know.

"Can you hold it for a bit longer?" Sasuke mumbled in his hair as he felt the baby move in Naruto's tight belly.

"Hm, of course." This was just too good a feeling. He moaned as Sasuke 'sniffled' his hair. "Hmm."

After ten minutes, Naruto really needed to get out. He slowly shuffled to the side of the bed and let his feet slide over the edge. He sat up, placed his hands on either side on the bed and wanted to lift himself op, but he fell back again.

"Sasuke, I really need to go," he said, and Sasuke gave him a push so he could stand up and walk to the bathroom.

Finally he sat down on the toilet, he felt the pressure leave his lately rather small bladder.

Just when he was hoisting his boxers up, Sasuke came in and closed the button on the back for him, making it hang around his tail. He again put his hands around Naruto's stomach and softly caressed the tight skin. Together they walked like this to the sink and Naruto washed his hands.

He knew why Sasuke was so close to him, he began to do this more often lately, ever since he'd witnessed a prostate attack after Naruto had gone to the toilet. He was afraid Naruto might fall or something.

Two hands joined Naruto under the water, helping him wash his hands more effectively. When they were dried off, they landed back on Naruto's abdomen. Naruto looked up in the mirror, and saw Sasuke look via the mirror, with his head on his shoulder, to his belly.

"You know, I think you're still affected by that jutsu as well," he told Sasuke.

Sasuke looked up in the mirror and watched Naruto's eyes sparkle. "Why would you say that?"

"I know it's partly who you are, but sometimes you're a bit... overdoing it."

Sasuke just stared at him in the mirror as he rubbed Naruto's stomach. "Overdoing what?" he eventually asked.

"Sometimes you're a bit overprotective, not just protective; especially when friends are over. And depending on who's there, you actually can be rather possessive." Naruto brushed his tail against Sasuke's legs.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything. He'd begin to have these kinds of thoughts as well.

"Keeping people away from me, or taking care of me when I'm doing fine myself," Naruto gave some examples, a grin on his face.

"You don't like it?"

"Oh, I don't mind, I like the attention, though sometimes it can be a bit annoying; as long as you keep it in the house."

Sasuke smiled back. "I'll try." Not that Naruto left the house that much anymore, so it was a good deal.

"I'm hungry."

Bathrobe on, they walked downstairs together, but instead of going to the kitchen, Naruto led Sasuke to the living room.

"I would like to sit on the couch while eating." Naruto pointed to the piece of furniture as he said so. Sasuke, walking beside him with his arm around Naruto's waist, helped him sit down on the heap of pillows. Naruto shuffled into them until he was comfortable, and Sasuke left to make breakfast.

This was a good place to sit, every time Naruto sat in the pillows-heap he felt the pain in his hips and back lessen, and he could actually sit there for over two hours.

Sasuke came back, gave the big bowl to Naruto, and held the small one to himself as he sat down against Naruto, pressing himself against Naruto's shoulder. Naruto placed the bowl on his stomach and began eating. Softly he began purring.

Akira came downstairs, and asked if he could eat his breakfast outside in the sun. To Naruto's amazement, Sasuke let him. Normally Sasuke was stricter about where you ate your breakfast, especially with others around. So when Akira happily went to the porch to listen to the birds while eating his breakfast, Naruto turned to Sasuke, his eyebrows raised. Sasuke just grinned back.

"Is this also part of the jutsu? Even keeping your son away?" Naruto teased him.

"No, I'm just in a good mood."

Naruto emptied his bowl and asked for seconds. Halfway through his second bowl Sasuke spoke, and Naruto was wondering if this was perhaps the reason he had let Akira eat outside.

"I've been thinking of names," he said softly. Naruto looked at him and Sasuke looked back. Naruto was still purring softly.

"What have you come up with?" Naruto had to admit he hadn't really thought of names yet, and was beginning to wonder if that was a bad sign that he hadn't, but he kept smiling nonetheless.

"Hm, just some things." Naruto gave him an encouraging look to go on. "Well, I like Toshiyuki."

"Toshiyuki," Naruto repeated.

"It means clever and happiness, he'll have something from both of us."

Naruto just smiled, afraid if he said anything, negative or positive, Sasuke wouldn't continue.

"And I like Ren." Suddenly Sasuke stopped and stared at Naruto. "Or do you want to name him after someone, like family?" His stare intensified, and all Naruto could do was blink a few times.

"Eh, well... I don't think I want to name him after tou-chan," Naruto said, thinking it over while he said it. "I think I would feel a bit weird calling him by my father's name all the time." Naruto glanced to Sasuke, wondering what he thought of it.

"Yeah, I think so too." Good, good, Naruto gave a very small sigh of relief. He'd been a bit afraid Sasuke would get angry or something. "What about naming him after someone else?" Sasuke continued, glancing to Naruto.

"I wouldn't know who to name him after. I most certainly won't name him after Ero-sennin, that would be sad for the kid." He laughed at his own words, and imagined a small version of Sasuke sitting in front of the onsen peeking at woman. If he became like that, then the name wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Sasuke just nodded in agree.

"You?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not sure, but..." he looked away.

"What?"

"No, it's nothing."

Naruto eyed him. Should he push him for the answer or not? Instead he decided to distract him a bit by putting, or trying to put, his bowl on the table. He finally succeeded and lay back.

"I don't think you would want it," Sasuke finally said.

"You'll never know when you don't ask it. I promise I won't laugh... or yell," he said.

"Okay, I was just wondering if perhaps-" he looked to Naruto, looking if he was serious too; he was, "perhaps we could name him Itachi?" he asked.

Naruto didn't say anything. He didn't really know what to think of it yet.

"It's just a suggestion, nothing more," Sasuke said quickly.

"No, that's fine. I can think about it," Naruto answered.

Right then Akira decided to come back in, and both Sasuke and Naruto were relieved about that.

"I just saw a bird I've never seen! Where's the bird encyclopaedia?"

Sasuke pointed to the bookcase. Akira found the book and flipped through the pages. Naruto leaned his head on Sasuke's shoulder as they watched Akira.

"That's it; that was the bird!" Akira said excitedly and showed them. Sasuke grasped the book and began to study the bird, Akira beside him.

"I saw the yellow stripes on his wings and-" Akira pointed to the picture, telling what he'd seen and what it had done.

Naruto smiled at the two. He wasn't very interested in the bird though, so he decided to go take a shower while he felt the baby move.

-oXo-

Next: The beginning


	11. Chapter 11: The Beginning of the End?

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Thank you MS3923 for beta-ing this chapter!

I forgot to thank Vyoletpanda96 last chapter, for naming Akira's friend ^^ And thanks to everyone for the favs and alerts :D

-oXo-

**Chapter 11: The beginning (of the end?)**

_8__th__ of June_

It hurt so much, Naruto barely dared to move. The baby was pressing his intestines away and squishing them. He was glad he had a catheter, as he didn't know how he would be able to get to the bathroom. Not that he thought he needed it much lately; the baby was blocking most of his intestines.

The baby pushed against his stomach. He had the feeling he could vomit every moment, and actually had had to swallow bile away several times.

His spine and pelvis hurt, as the baby pressed against his hipbones, trying to squeeze in between his small pelvis. He had only been able to lie down and every once in a while sit up, so his backache wasn't really getting better either. Plus his skin... it felt too tight. The scratch marks on his stomach were bigger than ever. It felt like his skin was burning. And on top of this all, he hadn't been able to sleep for two days now; before that not even half of the time that he needed.

All in all, he felt miserable.

Even though everything hurt, he tried to stay lying on his side as still as possible. Sasuke was holding his hand beside the hospital bed, looking worriedly at him; his eyes looking sad. Sasuke, by just being there for him, made things a little better. He squeezed Sasuke's hand and the corners of Sasuke's mouth went up a little.

Naruto remembered almost two weeks ago when the first real pains had begun.

_He was sitting on the porch, looking into the back garden, slowly moving his legs while they hung over the edge. He was watching how Sasuke tried to teach Akira the Henge jutsu._

_Naruto looked down at his large belly, and laid his hands on top of it as he felt the baby try to stretch out, pushing softly against his bladder._

_He couldn't believe when Sakura had told him that he actually wasn't that big compared to most pregnant women; that was because the baby had less space and was rolled up more. He couldn't believe her; woman could handle more than this? He felt like he was already stretched to the max, and he actually still had six weeks to go; theoretically, because it could even be more._

_He groaned as his hip began to hurt again, and glanced to the plate with beef that rested beside him. He sighed and took it, letting it rest on his belly. He began to feel like some sort of meat eating monster._

_He was chewing on a piece of beef and tried to ignore all the pains and uncomfortable pushing inside, which he thought so himself, he was handling rather well as he had sort of become used to it._

_The baby moved again, almost making the plate fall. Bile started to rise as his stomach was pushed against from the inside. He slid down the porch and sat down on the grass, his feet under his buttocks, trying to sit straight so to take some pressure from his stomach._

_The bile subsided. He sighed and was happy he'd gone to the toilet not over 15 minutes ago, because he didn't wanted to stand up again. It was rather bothersome to stand up lately._

_Another kick in the right direction and Naruto gasped. An empty bladder also brought this other thing with it, as his prostate got a quick attack._

_He calmed down again, and slowly turned to get the plate he had placed on the porch. It was then that had set everything in motion. _

_Pain, he felt pain coming from his stomach, but it wasn't the child. It was the fox._

_Tsunade had told him a few weeks ago something he already knew; the moment of weakness in the seal of a jinchuuriki was during childbirth. _

_Even though he was a rather special case, having partly merged with the beast inside him, Tsunade had still worded her thoughts about this to him; that it might very well not occur, especially since he wouldn't really give birth to this child the normal way. Also his seal was very strong ever since he and the Kyuubi had partly merged._

"_Aah!" he yelled. He felt a lot of red chakra starting to leak from the fox. His own chakra mixed with it, and it became orange before it leaked out of his body; though, it was leaning a bit more to the reddish side. _

_Sasuke immediately turned around to Naruto when he felt the chakra, and noticed the slightly more evil chakra than usual creep over his stomach._

"_Akira, go to Kakashi's place, now!"_

_Akira looked at Naruto as well and fetl the evil aura spread. He shivered, for he had never felt anything like this before. He couldn't move and started shivering. He didn't feel so good._

_Sasuke grasped his shoulder and looked down at him. Finally he was able to move again. Slowly he looked up into his father's black eyes._

"_Go!"_

_Akira ran as fast as he could away from his home._

_As soon as Sasuke had seen Akira move around the corner, he went to Naruto; his Sharingan spinning in his eyes._

Inside Naruto's mind he saw the fox still safely locked in his rather small cage. However, his chakra was everywhere and was also enveloping Naruto.

"Naruto!"

Naruto tried to turn while the chakra held him firmly into place.

"Sasuke, the baby." He was able to free one arm, and pointed to a place not that far away where some sort of cocoon stood that was slowly being surrounded by the red chakra. Yellow/orange chakra tried to fend the red off.

Sasuke saw it and used Susano'o to wrap one hand around the cocoon, and the other to get Naruto free. Naruto wriggled himself out the chakra and jumped away, landing next to Sasuke. Sasuke noticed he was his normal self here, no round stomach.

Naruto looked around, like he was searching for something.

"What are you looking for?" Sasuke asked as Susano'o wrapped its other hand around the cocoon too.

"There," Naruto yelled and he made one Kage Bunshin; he didn't dare to make more. He began running forward, avoiding the chakra, and made a Rasenshuuriken.

Sasuke was almost afraid he would throw it at the cage, which he subconsciously noted was a lot smaller than that it had once been. Naruto was running straight for it, but at the last moment he jumped and graciously turned in midair. He tossed the Rasenshuuriken to a small mass of chakra that tried to form into a shape of a fox. Sasuke had not even noticed it.

The Rasenshuuriken made contact and expanded, obliterating it to smithereens. Immediately the red chakra turned orange.

_As Sasuke blinked himself back to reality, he saw Naruto hanging on the porch, heaving and holding his stomach. His tail was curled between his legs and his ears lay flat on his head._

"_Naruto? Sasuke?" Kakashi appeared next to them. "What happened? Akira came to us in quite a panic, and I thought I felt-"_

"_The Kyuubi tried to break from the seal somehow," Sasuke explained as he rubbed Naruto's back, and held him so he wouldn't fall over._

"_I'm- I'm fine now," Naruto panted. "For now," he said as he gripped his painful stomach, closing his eyes in pain, some saliva hanging from his mouth._

"_And the baby?" Sasuke asked, wiping Naruto's mouth clean with his sleeve._

"_I think he wasn't harmed. Ughn." Naruto laid his hand on his side. "He still kicks anyway." _

"_Let's get you to the hospital," Kakashi said._

"_Uaagh," was Naruto's answer, as the rest of the beef that he hadn't already thrown up made its way to the surface world. _

_He sat there for a moment longer, hoping nothing else would come out, while Kakashi and Sasuke kept a close eye on him. After that he tried to stand up, but his hips protested, as well as Sasuke._

_Finally an hour later he was lying on a hospital bed, sweating from the pain._

_Tsunade and Sakura were just done checking him and his child. Sasuke actually seemed quite nervous as he watched them, Kakashi tried to calm him down a bit, by laying his hand on the raven's shoulder. It didn't help much._

_Naruto, while lying on his side and making some jerky motions, tried to roll himself up around his painful stomach, making whimpering and moaning sounds of pain. "Ugn."_

"_Everything's fine with the baby," Sakura said._

"_Aargh," Naruto gripped his stomach, "Aah, can't you, can't you… Uhh." Tears formed in his eyes from the pain. "Get it out!" _

_Sasuke winced. _

"_It is still too early, I would rather wait. The baby is doing fine, only Naruto is in pain, but if you have the delivery now I can't guarantee that the baby will survive or develop completely," Tsunade said worriedly._

"_Can't you do something about the pain?" Sasuke asked, as he winced again at another cry from Naruto._

"_I'm afraid not." Tsunade turned to Naruto._

"_Naruto," she stroked some hair out of his sweaty face. Her hand moved further over his flattened ears. "Do you want us to get the baby out now?"_

_Naruto stared at her. Tsunade pitied the boy; she hated seeing him in so much pain. Naruto could handle a lot, and if he was actually crying, it had to really, really hurt._

"_What are the risks?" he asked shakily._

"_The baby's lungs aren't fully completed yet. Generally speaking the baby would have a surviving rate of 75%, but this case is different and I would estimate it lower. Around 55%. But removing the baby know might also have…" she paused a moment, looking for the right words._

"_I could die." Naruto finished for her._

_She looked into his blue eyes, which were despite all the pain he was in still shining fiercely. "Yes, seeing how the womb is still connected to you -to your intestines-, and what we found out about those other men... you might die."_

"_And when would i-it, hnng… be fine?"_

"_Before 35 weeks the baby will be born preterm, after that the survival rate of the baby will rapidly increase. You're in week 32 now. But things also depends on the womb and how it changes. If it changes…"_

_Naruto was silent for a moment, closing his eyes. "I can…" he gasped again, "I can wait," he said finally very softly._

"_Naruto, you must also know that on the other hand it might also get worse instead of better. We don't know if the womb will weaken the barrier or strengthen it. From now on the longer the baby stays inside of you, it might end up damaging only more. If he stays too long, you might-"_

"_Or things m-might t-turn out bet-ter." Naruto tried to smile a bit, but it was lost in the process. "Besides, I can… can handle it. I'm a- a fast healer."_

_Tsunade looked at him with a look that was full of emotion. She stroked his hair again. She was so unsure of what might happen to him, she couldn't help it. Sakura had told her she should worry less, Naruto could handle things. She didn't need to tell him everything she worried about, but she just couldn't help it when she saw him there._

"_We'll let you and Sasuke be alone, so you can decide together." Sakura said, gripping Tsunade's arm and guiding her to the door. Kakashi followed them out._

_Sasuke sat beside Naruto and gripped his hand._

"_You don't have to take too many risks; you know that, don't you?"_

"_But I can handle it. Just w-wait another week at least. F-find out i-if things change." He tried to roll himself up some more, and squeezed Sasuke's hand hard._

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yes." Sasuke stared into Naruto's eyes and saw his determination. _

_Finally he said, "Okay, but as soon as things get to turn for the worse, if it becomes too much, I want the baby to be taken out." _You mean too much to me,_ he thought, but decided not to say right now._

_Naruto nodded. "Okay."_

That had been two weeks ago. The fox hadn't tried to take over anymore; or more precisely it couldn't. It had been a onetime chance. The seal was too strong, and the fox was way too weak as most of his strength had merged with Naruto.

Pain flared violently through his body, and Naruto gave some spasms from pain; he kept his eyes closed.

He felt hungry, but he couldn't eat since this morning. He felt his intestines being closed off. It wasn't a good feeling at all. He knew Sakura would come very soon and then he could tell her.

His tail gave a violent sweep under the sheets as he tried to curl up, but his legs didn't want to; there wasn't a lot of blood able to circulate through them, making them feel numb. His hand let go of Sasuke's and went to his painful stomach. Sasuke placed his other hand on Naruto's side. Somehow Sasuke's touch was the best thing to help him feel slightly better recently, so Naruto accepted his touch whenever he could.

Sasuke was so worried, Naruto could see it in his shining black eyes and the way he acted around him, but Naruto hadn't been able to say that everything was alright. Besides, Sasuke would know he wasn't telling the truth. That was what Naruto liked so much about Sasuke's presence, not only his touch, but they could understand each other without having to say a word. Naruto thought they could actually have long soundless 'conversations'; Sasuke was always the one that was listening like he always did, and let Naruto do the 'talking'.

Someone knocked on the door. Sakura came into the room and walked over to the bed.

"Naruto?" she asked, letting him know he should tell her how he felt. She didn't ask anymore to tell her, or how he felt, because he'd said he hadn't like it that everyone, every time as they walked in, the first thing they asked was 'how are you?' They knew full well he wasn't okay.

"I can't eat," he said as he closed his eyes in pain.

"You're not hungry?"

"Intestines," was all he said, grinding his teeth.

"The baby is cutting it off?" Sakura lowered the sheet, and together with Sasuke carefully pulled Naruto up, so he could lie on his back against a heap of pillows, without cutting off his blood system immediately. She pulled up his shirt and started pushing on his stomach, trying to move the baby a bit. She actually didn't need to push a lot to feel the baby, but to move him was a lot harder, since there was almost no room to move. Naruto groaned in pain as his skin was too tight, while Sakura kept pushing painfully.

"Aagh," he finally couldn't keep from screaming.

"Perhaps I can try to 'stretch' your skin a bit. It will make it feel better." Sakura's green eyes looked up to Naruto's closed eyes, frowning in pain. She began moving her hands over his skin in a way she had done a lot more lately. She had showed Sasuke too, but Naruto never asked Sasuke to do it, and Sasuke didn't really dare to hurt Naruto more, so he didn't do it a lot. Sakura was much better at doing this; probably because she could get over things like that more easily, being a medic.

"Do the leg-massages help?" she asked.

Naruto only groaned as she moved her hands, so she looked over to Sasuke.

"They do."

"Any other things?" she asked, turning her head to Naruto again.

"I'm tired," he said as he winced.

"You haven't slept again?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Hm, but you do sleep a little, don't you?" She looked over to Sasuke.

"Mostly a couple of minutes, but not much more than 20 minutes or so," Sasuke said. Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"Well, the baby seems to have grown a lot this last week, like he knew he had to catch up a little." She stopped stretching Naruto's skin, and now tried to move the baby again, to get his intestines more space. "I want to suggest that if tomorrow you're still unable to eat, we'll do the c-section."

"Isn't it still too early?" Sasuke asked, looking at Naruto groan while he asked.

"It is, you're still only in week 34, but the baby is stronger now, and more importantly I see too many risks if you stay this way for much longer. It's not good to let your intestines being pushed away like this for so long, and if you can't eat, it means the baby also is cut short on his food supply."

After a moment of silence, only interrupted by Naruto's moans of pain, Sasuke finally spoke up.

"I think you're right," he said.

"Okay, Naruto, I want you to get up for a moment, you need some movement. Just like two days ago, we will walk to the scale and back. You think you can do that?"

"Hm," Naruto growled. He hated how she talked to him like he was a small child asking if he could do that; if he could handle it. He was handling pain 24/7 for the last two weeks! Of course he could handle to walk a bit!

His anger was shown on his face, and Sakura got the message.

Sasuke and Sakura stood on either side of Naruto as they helped him up, fist letting him sit on the edge of the bed.

"This doesn't feel good," he told them, feeling even less blood flowing through his legs since they began to tingle.

They lifted him up, holding him up so he wouldn't fall. Slowly Naruto began taking small steps to the scale. He held Sakura almost in a death grip with one arm. Out of pain, not anger he told himself, but he wasn't so sure.

"50.2 kilo. That's exactly 13 kilo's more than you used to be."

"That explains why I feel so heavy," he said with sarcasm. He was aware that the longer this pain was going on, it was getting harder to stay serious and actually smile.

Sakura and Sasuke just ignored him, and helped him back to bed as his knees gave out.

"Whose idea was this again?" He asked as he lay down on his side again, groaning.

"That doctor's, don't blame us," Sasuke said, trying to be himself for Naruto's sake.

"Right, but he's dead, so I can't kill him anymore."

Sakura smiled at that. "You couldn't kill if you wanted to right now. Just stay in bed and try to rest. You know that every day you keep this up, it increases the chances of the baby."

This sobered Naruto up a little bit. "I know, but I would still like to kill someone."

-x-

The next day had come and another long night had past. Naruto had actually been able to eat something, even though his intestines began to protest as they were still blocked. He hadn't told anyone that, he just wanted -like Sakura had said- to feed the baby. It didn't matter if it couldn't get out anymore, just as long as the necessary substances would be taken, it was alright. Or so he hoped.

As the clock said it was 5:29 in the morning, Naruto lay awake trying to concentrate on Sasuke's soft breathing, as he was sleeping in his chair, instead of the pain in his intestines and what else. The baby tried to move again, pushing against all the organs and his still painful pelvis. Naruto clenched his jaws shut and closed his eyes.

He felt so huge as he felt his big belly. He almost couldn't believe he'd actually gained 13 kilo's. Normally he already had difficult gaining even a half a kilo. Even if he hadn't been on a mission for a few weeks and ate some more, he didn't grow above the weight of 37.6 kilo's.

He wanted his smooth and flat stomach back. He wanted the pain gone, he wanted to sleep again and eat normally. Not eating plates full of meat and other things Sakura wanted him to eat, like some eating machine, or his intestines getting clogged. He wanted to be able to get to the toilet again, to sleep on his stomach, to be able to walk normally, without walking like a goose or his legs giving out. To not having trouble keeping himself standing as he lost balance and his legs couldn't support him anymore. To do whatever he wanted and would be able to do it. To train, he wanted to train again; go on stupid missions with his genins, chasing lost pets and painting fences. Anything, it didn't matter.

He sighed, he wanted so much, but when he thought why he was in this situation, and what it could give him in the end, at least half of these desires could be ignored. Of course there were still things he really wanted, but what could a man do? A baby can't make everything alright.

Suddenly pain like he hadn't felt before made him almost lose consciousness. His eyes flew open and he screamed in pain, louder than he had before. His organs cramped up as the chakra womb did. It was very painful.

Sasuke almost fell out of his chair at the sudden outburst. His Sharingan activated at the alarm. He saw Naruto cramped up around his stomach, and quickly stood up and pushed a red emergency button.

Shizune came running into the room, and tried to hold Naruto still as he squirmed on the bed. Her hand moved over his abdomen. She turned to Sasuke.

"Get Sakura, now!"

This was bad.

Sasuke left the room immediately, and not much later he returned with Sakura in tow. Sakura checked Naruto as well. Her face dropped.

"The chakra womb is getting unstable. The baby has to get out now. Move him to the operation room. I'll get Tsunade-sama."

-x-

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked as Naruto still lay silently screaming in pain on the operation table. His brain couldn't think clearly as he saw Naruto's sweaty face.

"We need to either stabilize the womb or get the baby out, we need to open him up to take a better look," Sakura told him before she pushed him out of the way.

Sakura grasped a scalpel, and was about to make an incision after she tried to feel the best place to do so.

"Don't we have to give him some medication against the pain?" Shizune asked.

"Won't help anyway," Sakura said as she put the scalpel in the flesh.

Naruto stopped moving suddenly, taking in a ragged breath as he felt the scalpel move, cutting his flesh and peeling it away, opening him up. He tried very hard not to scream too hard.

Sakura and Tsunade were taking a look inside of him, and he felt their hands move some 'things' away.

"It's letting go of the organs over here," Sakura told Tsunade.

"But it's still attached on other places, and the chakra is fluctuating too much," she answered.

Sakura lifted her head to Sasuke and Naruto. "We're going to take it out."

Naruto tried to nod, but cramped up instead. "H-hurry up," he said with a broken voice. Sakura bit her lip at the tone.

She and Tsunade tried to open the womb, which turned out to be very hard to do, but luckily Naruto had stopped moving. He now just lay still, staring at the ceiling, tears streaming down his cheeks. It looked like he had trouble breathing as he sucked in air very slowly, gasping.

"Why has it tightened to his organs like this?" Shizune asked as she too was helping to open the barrier. "Over there," she appeared to point somewhere. "While at other places it's letting go?"

"Don't know, but if we don't hurry, it will damage his organs permanently," Sakura said.

Finally Tsunade was able to make a small hole, and Sakura could make it bigger.

"Take the baby out," Sakura told Shizune, as she and Tsunade held open the barrier. Shizune's hands disappeared into Naruto.

"Aah!" Naruto gave a jolt. He could feel Shizune's hands move inside of him, trying to take a hold of the baby. He had difficulty to lie still at that, and Sasuke gripped his hand, which he regretted as it felt like Naruto was pulverizing his bones. Naruto felt how Shizune's hands tried to get around the baby. Naruto gasped for air with difficulty. Tears streaming down his face. This was hell.

Finally Naruto could feel how her hands moved and took hold of something. Then Shizune's hands emerged again with a baby holding in between.

Sasuke noticed he had been holding his breath, and he squeezed Naruto's hand softly as he tried to breathe again.

Shizune laid the in blood covered baby down on a table, and began to do some check-ups to see if everything worked alright. Suddenly wailing could be heard.

Sasuke looked down to Naruto, smiling, but then he realized Naruto was extremely pale and his eyes began to close.

"Naruto, hold on!" he said, trying to keep him awake.

Sakura and Tsunade probably had a hard time, as they made rapid movements and tried to clear all the blood.

"Get some blood Sasuke, it is in that cabinet over there."

Sasuke carefully tried to pull his now tingling hand away from Naruto's death grip, to get the blood. He got it and hurried back to Naruto. He put a needle that was connected to the sack of blood, into Naruto's arm.

"Naruto, stay with me," he said as he cupped Naruto's face in his hands. "Look at me, I'm here for you."

Naruto turned his eyes ever so slightly to Sasuke. It looked like he wasn't seeing very much, they were unfocused. He gave some sort of cough and blood came from the corners of his mouth.

"Quickly, Sakura, close it!"

Sasuke looked over to the now bloodbath that was Naruto's stomach, and wished he hadn't.

"Naruto, we're almost ready, you can do it." He didn't know if he was trying to comfort Naruto or himself.

Naruto's eyes began to close. "Naruto!"

Finally Sakura pulled out her hands of Naruto, holding a bloody thing in her hands, and immediately Tsunade began cleaning and closing the opening as far as she could.

"Naruto, look at me, Naruto!" Sasuke was beginning to panic, Naruto wasn't responding to him anymore, and he almost wasn't breathing. Sasuke moved his hands over Naruto's face and shoulders, hoping he would open his eyes, blink or anything else that let him know he was still conscious.

"Sasuke get over here," Shizune called as she looked at the situation. It was better if he wasn't there.

"No, Naruto," he said softly, not turning away from Naruto.

Shizune walked over to him with the baby and placed it in such a way, pushing the baby in his arms, that he just _had_ to take it. Sasuke seemed shocked at the sight of the small person in his arms and automatically folded his arms carefully around the small still in blood covered body.

Before he could think or do anything, Shizune pulled him out of the room. "Come, you need to take the baby to the next room with me and into an incubator." She guided a stunned Sasuke away.

"But Naruto-," he said slowly, continuing to stare at the baby and the small hand that was grabbing the blanket. "Naruto." He looked up around Shizune to see Naruto. Sasuke actually seemed lost at all that was happening. "What about Naru-"

"Will be fine, but you're in the way." Shizune looked worriedly over her shoulder as she saw Sakura checking Naruto's pulse, looking a bit greyish from shock, before she closed the door behind her.

Naruto wasn't breathing and there was no pulse. Sakura began to panic. His intestines had taken a lot of damage, even though the womb had partly detached itself. The wounds hadn't been completely closed yet, and Sakura saw how Tsunade was still working on his intestines.

"Come on Naruto, don't give up now!" she said a bit panicky as she started CPR. Tsunade let his stomach be and grasped some paddles from a defibrillator.

Naruto's eyes were slightly open, staring blankly into the room. He was awfully pale and getting cold.

"Naruto! Come back!"

-oXo-

Next: ...?

A/N: Review? ^^


	12. Chapter 12: The Miracle

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Thank you MS3923 for beta-ing this chapter!

-oXo-

**Chapter 12: The miracle**

_25__th__ of June_

Sasuke sat in a chair next to the bed in his own bedroom. He was feeding a small baby that lay in his arms. Big black eyes were staring at him as the baby sucked on his bottle. A tuft of blond stood on top of the small head, directed to all sides.

Sasuke smiled at the baby girl in his arms. He had been quite surprised when he'd come to know that the baby boy was in fact a baby girl. Shizune had told him that it wasn't always a 100% certainty when looking at an echo, and even less with chakra. Sakura had probably been wrong, because the womb had been so thick and hard to penetrate with chakra.

It had been over two weeks since she was born, but she'd already grown so much. The first couple of days she'd needed to stay in the incubator, but Sakura had told him with some surprise in her eyes that she was very strong, and could already move out of it after five days.

Just to be sure she'd stayed in the hospital for another couple of days, but Sakura couldn't deny she was doing extremely well for her age. So he had been able to take her home with him.

Sakura had come over to help him with the baby every now and then when she could get out of the hospital, and even Anko, Kakashi and Iruka had come to help. Sasuke had been quite surprised when Hinata stood in front of the door, offering him to help as well.

Sasuke took away the bottle from his daughter's mouth, as she had begun spilling some, and cleaned her mouth. The small girl began to whimper, so he put the bottle back.

Sakura had told him she was quite surprised that she already had her eyes open this much, though she wasn't able to see a lot. Babies couldn't see much more past 30-40 centimetres. Sasuke looked into those familiar black orbs. Her eyes were exactly the same as his own; only her eyes held bigger irises and were wider than his. They reminded him of his mother's eyes. Somehow Sasuke had been very happy to see the yellow tuft on the girl's head instead of black.

Her skin colour was still a bit red, but that would eventually go away. The shape of her face looked to be like his own, a bit sharper than Naruto's more round face.

He wished Naruto could have seen this, the first time she blinked her eyes open to him, and for him to see how much she'd grown already. He missed the blond, more than anything in the world.

Sasuke bit his lip as he thought of how he'd seen Naruto lying so very still and covered in blood on the operation table. His own heart had almost stopped beating that moment. Naruto's really had. Sasuke closed his eyes in pain from the painful memory.

The baby whimpered again, because he didn't held the bottle in her mouth correctly.

Akira had been disappointed when Sasuke had told him that his little brother was in fact a little sister, but he'd come to terms with it rather quickly when he had held her in his arms, a gigantic, proud smile on his face. He was already telling everyone that would listen, how good a big brother he would be.

Sasuke hadn't named the baby yet. He'd wanted Naruto to name the baby; he'd been carrying it around for so long. He'd gone through the most trouble. And frankly they had only come up with two boy names, because they had been sure it would be a boy. Sasuke didn't know any good girl names, or at least he couldn't come up with any. Sakura had already suggested some, but Sasuke had not liked them.

"What kind of name would you have come up with, Naruto?" he asked out loud. He was sure Naruto would know a name immediately. Then he would say he didn't like it, and would be able to come up with another one, only for Naruto to be stubborn and rejecting it like Sasuke had done to his proposal. Sasuke smiled sadly at the though.

A moan came from the bed next to Sasuke, and he looked up to see Naruto lying there.

Naruto still hadn't woken up, he'd been so exhausted. He had almost died on the operating table. According to Tsunade he actually had stopped breathing for over three minutes. His organs had been screwed up so much that they had thought they would lose him, but miraculously he had started breathing again; and ever so slowly had begun to heal. In fact he still was.

Sakura had said that he would probably sleep for quite some time while he was healing, but Sasuke knew he would wake up very soon. He looked quite alright now, he wasn't pale anymore, had no fever, and wasn't cold anymore. He was just sleeping now, occasionally giving some spasms. Sasuke thought his intestines didn't quite satisfy with him yet.

His stomach was covered by the seal, over which now a thin scar spread. There were still several stretch marks, but those were already slowly disappearing too.

Sasuke was glad that Sakura had told him Naruto was doing well enough for Sasuke to take him home, when the baby was ready as well.

Some sucking noises from below him said that the bottle was empty, and it made him look back at his daughter. Sasuke put the bottle away, cleaned the baby's mouth and held her against his shoulder, slowly rubbing her back as he glanced to Naruto again. When he did, he saw blue eyes staring back at him, still a bit hazily looking.

He smiled at Naruto. "Naruto," he said softly. The happiness in his voice betrayed what he felt about seeing Naruto finally awake again, and couldn't have gone unnoticed to anyone, not even a foggy Naruto.

Naruto slowly smiled back as he gradually began to understand what he was seeing. He moaned when he tried to lie on his side, and thus decided against it after all.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like someone cut me open, hustled my intestines and closed me up again." Naruto said softly, still sounding a bit hoarsely. He turned his head to Sasuke. "But I guess that sort of is what really happened." He paused for a moment. "It felt that way at least." Naruto slowly moved his hand to his troubled stomach. He didn't have time to think about it anymore, because Sasuke came to sit down next to him on the bed, showing the baby in his arms.

"But look what came out of it." Sasuke handed Naruto their daughter carefully, after he helped Naruto sit up against a pile of pillows.

"This is kind of weird, isn't it? Our son." Naruto said as he looked at the baby in his arms. His eyes had cleared up some.

Sasuke smiled. "I guess so. Even weirder when you think it's our daughter."

"What?" Naruto looked up to him.

"It's a girl; Sakura was wrong." Sasuke carefully took in Naruto's surprised expression, and saw how it changed from being surprised to actually trying to understand what it meant that Sasuke had just said. His mouth opened ever so slightly and his eyes widened a bit further.

Naruto was silent for a moment, and he looked back to the girl, not seeing any difference. "Then it's a good thing she saw wrong. I think I would have panicked a lot more if I had known it was a girl." He started moving his ears ever so slightly, out of content of seeing the baby's small face.

Sasuke nodded in agree, remembering their talk with Tsunade about the doctor's research.

"I'm glad it's all over now," Naruto sighed.

"Hm," Sasuke stared tenderly at Naruto as he moved his fingers over the baby's face, while she lay resting in his arms.

"She has the shape of your face," Naruto said, studying every detail of the baby girl.

"And your hair."

After a pause Naruto suddenly wondered how long he had been out of it. "What day is it?" he looked up to Sasuke.

"25th of June."

Naruto stared at Sasuke. "Okay, I must admit that I don't even know what day she was born… Quite embarrassing." He pulled up his nose a bit, grinning embarrassedly. He looked rather cute Sasuke thought.

"9th of June," Sasuke said a little bit sadly. He looked at his daughter. The big charcoal coloured eyes moved to his own, like they held magnets, connecting them.

"That's two weeks ago," Naruto slowly spoke, trying to make the calculations in his head. He grinned when he saw the two look at each other.

"Yes," Sasuke answered slowly, as if caught in a genjutsu by the two dark eyes.

"What's wrong Sasuke?" Naruto leaned in against Sasuke.

"Nothing much, just…" Sasuke's voice died down, and for a moment he looked away from the baby girl.

Naruto tried to look him in the eyes, moving forward a little. "What?"

"It's quite funny actually." Sasuke looked back up to Naruto. Naruto raised an eyebrow, waiting for the answer. "She's born on the same day Itachi was."

"Oh, a new Itachi then?" Naruto smiled and looked back to the baby, carefully stroking his hand over the soft blond hairs.

Sasuke stared at him. He didn't think Naruto believed in reincarnation or something, so he wasn't sure what Naruto had meant by that. It was a girl nonetheless, how could she be another Itachi?

"So what name shall we give her?" He asked instead.

"You haven't given her a name yet?" Naruto looked up surprised, a hint of a frown on his face.

"No, I wanted you to do that. You've been through all of this, it's only fair."

Naruto blinked. They had more or less already decided on two names when Naruto was still in the hospital, but only one of them might be a girl's name as well. They had kept the option of choosing one of the two names, so they could still decide when the baby was born which one would sooth best; Kiseki, meaning miracle, and Toshiyuki, meaning clever and happy.

Naruto considered the baby for a moment. "What do you think? Are you a Kiseki or should we come up with something else?" he tilted his head.

"She's a miracle alright." Sakura stood in the opening of the door.

Naruto jolted a little at Sakura's voice. "I hadn't heard you come in at all," Naruto said, sounding a bit surprised.

"Aah, my skills in stealth are finally improving after all these years." Naruto frowned at her. "Okay, I admit I wasn't being stealthy at all." She sat down on the bed on Naruto's other side. "Your ears aren't working good yet," she teased him as the touched them. Naruto gave her a look. "You've already woken up."

"Told you so." Sakura smiled at Sasuke. "You did." Naruto looked from Sakura to Sasuke and back.

Sakura looked at the empty bottle in Sasuke's hand. "You already fed her?"

"She was crying."

"And she didn't smell, otherwise you would have let her cry, wouldn't you," Sakura laughed.

"Hn, of course not," Sasuke almost mumbled, almost.

"You don't even know how to change a diaper."

"I do," Sasuke grumbled.

"Come on Sasuke-kun, I'm teasing you."

Naruto moved a bit to Sakura, trying to give the baby to her. She noticed so and took the baby in her own arms. After that Naruto laid his hands on his stomach and slumped in the pillows.

"Can we decide on a name later?" he asked with a small voice.

"Sure, already waited two weeks."

"Sorry." Naruto closed his eyes. "Aaah," he said out of content, as he nestled himself into the pillows a little better.

"You want something to eat or drink?" Sakura asked, with a hidden message that said he _had_ to eat or drink something.

He opened his eyes again, but not fully, turning his head to Sakura. "Sure." He had a feeling Sakura already knew what to give him, and that protesting had no use.

"And while you're at it, you can change her too." Naruto pointed to the baby that slowly began to whimper and looked a bit red in the face.

Sakura stared at him. "Sasuke just said that he knows how to do it." She looked to Sasuke.

"I have to do it for the next couple of years; you can do it now."

"You need experience."

"I already copied your movements, I don't need experience."

Sakura was silent for a moment, before she was able to snap her attention back. "So you're already prepared to do it now."

Sasuke opened his mouth, but whatever he had meant to say back, was interrupted by wailing.

"Shhh, I'll clean you up. I understand why you're crying. You're not even a month old and your father already doesn't want to take care of you," Sakura said through pursed lips in a cooing voice. When she finished her sentence she glanced up to Sasuke, waiting for his reaction.

"Give her to me." Sasuke walked around the bed and held out his hands. "Come on."

Sakura smiled and handed him the baby. As soon as Sasuke had the baby in his arms, he walked away.

"Wow, Sakura-chan."

"I know, I know." She made a small bow before she went out the room to get Naruto his much needed food.

Naruto let his hand glide over his stomach again under his shirt. It felt so nice to have a smooth belly again. He could feel the thin line of the scar, but had a feeling it would eventually disappear.

He pulled his shirt up a bit and looked down, seeing the seal as black as ever. He traced some lines, which actually felt quite nice for his trouble intestines.

He felt drained and out of energy, but he guessed that wasn't so strange. He hoped he would recover soon, so he could do all the things he'd missed doing so much.

Sometime later, sooner than Naruto had thought (he probably must have been daydreaming a bit or something), Sakura came back into the room with some slimy essence that he had to drink.

He stared from the bowl up to Sakura, his nose crunched up.

"Drink it. You can't handle hard foods yet," she told him, waving the bowl once.

"Do you even know what it smells like?"

"Just eat it, Naruto." She told him sternly.

He accepted the bowl and slowly began to slurp the gooey essence; it actually didn't taste all that bad. Sakura was a fine cook, and knew how to make bad tasting foods taste good again.

Sasuke came in again, holding the small blond.

"Akira asks if he can come in." And indeed Akira stuck his head around Sasuke's legs.

"Can I?" he asked innocently.

"Don't be too loud and be careful, then it's fine," Sakura said.

Akira smiled and calmly climbed up the bed to sit beside Naruto.

"Are you in pain?" Akira looked up in Naruto's eyes, waiting for him to answer.

"A bit." Naruto placed the empty bowl on his lap. "How does it feel to be a big brother now?"

Akira smiled from ear to ear. "I'm gonna take care of her. I will protect her and become a good medical ninja!"

"Good boy." Naruto ruffled his hair. Akira pouted at the movement, but Naruto soon stopped, feeling tired.

"What do you think; is she a Kiseki or something else?" he asked Akira, looking at the small girl in Sasuke's arms.

Akira blinked. "Who is?"

"Never mind." Naruto moaned softly as he tried to lie down some more. "So weird that you can be so sleepy, even after two weeks of sleep." He yawned.

"It's a good sign, though," Sakura said.

"Is that why imouto sleeps so much?"

Sakura giggled. "Yes."

"Aah," Akira said understandingly.

"Good, let's leave them both to get some sleep then."

"Okay." Akira turned away, but appeared to remember something and turned back to Naruto again. He gently kissed Naruto on his cheek. "Thank you for giving me a baby sister."

Naruto's eyebrows rose, but Akira had already left the room. He smiled and lay back. "Me too," he mumbled as his eyes closed.

* * *

><p>"Sasuke~"<p>

Nothing.

"Sasuke~!" he yelled more loudly.

The door opened and Sasuke came walking in, looking a bit concerned and annoyed. "What is i-? Are you okay?"

Naruto was sitting on the floor in the bathroom. "Will you help me get up?" he reached out his hand to Sasuke.

"What happened?"

"I needed to go." He waved to the toilet behind him. "But when I got up from the toilet I heard something click and I fell." He rubbed his hip with his other hand.

"Are you all right?"

"As you can see I'm still alive."

Sasuke gave him a stern look and Naruto couldn't joke anymore.

"My stomach hurts, that's all. It wasn't nice to go to the toilet." He looked away from Sasuke.

"Oh." Sasuke helped Naruto stand up and brought him back to the bed. When he was back in the bed, Naruto clutched his stomach and rolled himself up, his tail tucked between his legs. Sasuke could actually hear his stomach rumbling.

"What were you doing?" Naruto asked, not wanting Sasuke to go away yet. Sasuke sat down on the bed after he had covered Naruto up with the blanket.

"I was peeling some potatoes for tonight."

"Aha," Naruto said softly, and stared at the bed instead of Sasuke. "Did you... already feed her?" he fumbled with the navy blue sheets.

Sasuke knew what was going on. Naruto had told him that he felt a little bit guilty about not being around the first two weeks of his daughter's life. Sasuke had told him that, in no possible way she would remember -nor that it mattered-, because he was long glad (more than glad, beyond relief) that he was still alive.

"No, but she probably wants to drink soon." Naruto smiled and his ears perked up, his eyes shining. "I'll go prepare a bottle, alright?"

Naruto nodded, hoping he would not fall asleep in the meantime. Sasuke stood up and went downstairs, smiling.

When sometime later he came back up the stairs, -as on cue- whimpering could be heard. Naruto had in the meantime fallen asleep after all, but when Sasuke opened the door with their daughter in his arms, Naruto woke up and slowly shuffled in an upright position.

Sasuke gave him the baby, put some pillows under his arms, so less weight would come on his already troubled stomach, and handed him the bottle.

Naruto smiled as two small hands gripped his hand tightly, and she began sucking on the bottle.

"Unbelievable," Naruto muttered, resting his head on Sasuke's shoulder.

"That's quite right."

-x-

Sasuke shuffled around through the living room, and Akira couldn't help but watch him, instead of making his homework. He had no idea what his father was doing, but he didn't dare ask yet. So he turned back to his homework, tried to read the problem he was supposed to solve, but he was distracted by the pacing again, and had to read it again. After five wasted attempts of trying to read it, he could no longer ignore his father.

"Tou-chan?"

Sasuke turned around and looked down to Akira, seeming to come out some sort of trance. "Hm?"

"What's wrong?" Akira tilted his head.

"Oh, nothing, I was just thinking." He walked over to Akira and sat down beside him. "How's homework going?"

"You're distracting me with your pacing around," he told honestly and looked back down to his homework.

Sasuke blinked. "Sorry." Akira looked up, his father didn't apologize that very often.

"You sure you're alright?" Teal eyes met black.

"Ah, I was just thinking. I'll go and check on Naruto." He started to stand up.

"O-kay," Akira said slowly as he followed his father leave the room, and shrugged. A friend had told him how his father had been off the world for a while when he'd gotten a little brother.

Akira shook his head. "Adults." They just thought too much about everything.

-x-

Sakura sat at the small table next to Akira, as she was folding the laundry. She had come to help Naruto or with the baby, but Naruto had refused (and quite quickly fallen asleep thereafter) and Sasuke had said he could handle things with the baby. So instead she had done the laundry.

The doorbell rang and Sasuke walked out of the kitchen to open the door.

"Sasuke!" Ino squealed, hugging him. Sasuke hated it when she did that. She didn't do it as often as she used to, but sometimes she just couldn't hold her joy.

"In there," Sasuke pointed to the living room, as he already knew who she had come for.

"Ow, I really want to see the baby!" Excitedly she walked into the living room, and indeed there she found the baby lying in a crib. She leant over it and put her finger in, touching the small fingers of the baby girl. A tiny hand curled around it.

"Ow, so he's cu~te!" She looked up to the little lime green cap whereon a name was stitched (present from Tsunade). "Ren." Ino squealed again. "That's such a cute name for a boy."

"She's a girl," Sasuke pointed out, as he referred to her clothing; a small green skirt.

After a long and tiring brainstorm Naruto and Sasuke had decided to name their newborn daughter Ren; Akira had agreed with them. They had no real reason for choosing it, other than that they both liked it.

"Really? I must say I thought you guys just had no sense for fashion." Ino stared at the baby's clothing and Sasuke stared at her.

"Ow, Ino." Sakura shook her head. "I told you last week that it's a girl."

Ino blinked at her, still attached to the baby's hand. "Really? I can't remember." She turned back to the baby. "Ren-chan. Also possible for a girl." She stroked the small tuft of thin blond hair. "You think she'll stay blond?"

"Well, it's unlikely to turn black," Sasuke said.

"It might still change, getting darker" Ino told him, "just like the colour of her eyes." Sasuke stood still. He hadn't known. "But as dark as they are, that is unlikely," she added softly.

Then Ino started looking at the baby-girl's ears. "No fox ears?"

"Luckily no. I think Naruto would have freaked out," Sakura smiled.

"Tail?"

"Not yet."

"What do you mean, 'not yet'?" Sasuke asked Sakura, turning around to her.

Sakura shrugged. "I was just joking. It's your child, and then I'm pointing mostly to the Naruto in her; you might never know. That's all I'm saying."

"I won't have it." Sasuke folded his arms over his chest.

"That's so mean of you, Sasuke-kun," Ino said, finally free from the grip of Ren. "It will be so cute!"

"You think everything is cute."

"But it is, isn't it Sakura?"

Sakura nodded. "She's right."

"Hn, women."

"But she doesn't have a tail, why are you all saying that?" Akira asked confused.

Silence fell.

"Because..." Ino started, but had no real answer.

"We were being silly," Sakura told him instead.

"Ow."

-x-

"What did you mean by, 'I won't have it'?" Naruto asked as Sasuke came in the bedroom.

Sasuke frowned as he thought for a moment before he understood what Naruto was talking about. He handed Naruto the bowl of goo Sakura had prepared before she had gone home.

"You know that was not how I meant it." He sat down beside Naruto.

"I know, and I also know what you _did_ mean." He put the bowl aside and hugged Sasuke. "You want her to be normal."

"As normal as possible. She's already got us for parents; I don't want to give the kid a trauma or a more difficult chance of adapting to society even before she can understand what's going on."

"You just want the best for her."

"Yes. The way she was conceived, you, a half-demon fox as mother, me, a traitor as father-"

"You're not a traitor, you came back, remember?" He fiddled with Sasuke's hair. "And I'm not a mother," he mumbled softly.

"Still, I'm not perfect."

Naruto grinned. "You are to me."

Sasuke looked down to Naruto, his hair still attached to Naruto's hand. "I would just hate it if she came to the Academy and kids would tease her because she has a tail," Sasuke said softly.

"Oh, Sasuke," Naruto said as he tightened his grip on Sasuke, letting the hair go.

Sasuke noticed a tear rolling down Naruto's cheek. Was it affecting him this much too? Did it bring up memories of his own childhood? "You're not going to cry over it?" he asked carefully.

"No!"

_Hormones then?_

"My stomach really hurts," Naruto told him.

Sasuke was silent for a moment. "Oh."

Naruto let him go and fell back in the heap of pillows, trying to grasp the bowl, but he cringed and couldn't.

"Come, I'll feed you. As practice for later," Sasuke teased.

"Hm." However, Naruto did not protest.

-oXo-

A/N: ^^ I hope I got you again there


	13. Chapter 13: The Miracle, Part II

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Thank you MS3923 for beta-ing this chapter!

And thank you all for the reviews!

-oXo-

**Chapter 13: The miracle, part II**

_7__th__ of July_

A week after he'd woken up, Naruto slowly shuffled from the couch to the open doors that led to the porch. His tail was slowly sweeping behind him, and the soft purring that resonated from him made the baby in his arms quiet down.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei," he said before he even stuck his head around the corner of the door.

"Yo," was the answer.

"Anko."

"Naruto."

"Sakumo-chan." The small boy looked up to him from his mother's arms.

"Look at her," Anko said; looking at the baby in Naruto's arms as they walked inside. She carefully stroked her hand over the baby's head.

"Want to trade holding kids?" Naruto joked, even though he gave the baby to Kakashi.

Slowly he shuffled back inside, while he felt his hips make some clicking noises. The joints were getting back to normal, according to Sakura. At least he felt so much lighter (because he was) which made it less painful. He let himself lower on the couch carefully.

"How do you feel?" Anko asked sitting beside him.

"Fine," he said, even though he laid his hand on his stomach as he said this. He was still purring softly.

Slowly the little blond began to whimper again.

"Oh, I was just about to feed Ren-chan. The bottle is on the table." Naruto pointed to the bottle in front of Kakashi.

"Maa, maa."

"Don't whine Kakashi." Kakashi glanced to Anko, but gave Ren the bottle anyway, a smile sounded through his mask.

"Sakura told me you almost died twice," Kakashi said suddenly, sounding very serious.

Naruto turned to him. "I heard so too. _Repeatedly,_" he added softly. "But I don't remember anything after the first time I so-called 'died'," he held up his hand, quoting the last word with his hands. The purring died down. "Just a lot of pain." He sat up straight again as he had slowly began to slide down. "And of course their hands inside of me." A shiver ran down his spine at the mere thought. "Never, ever again." He shook his head.

"Probably not going too, seeing as the good old doctor is dead."

"Thank you very much." Naruto folded his arms over his chest. "And otherwise he can make Sasuke pregnant instead of me."

Anko began to laugh. "Ooh, how I would like to see that!"

"See what?" Sasuke entered the room with some groceries.

"Nothing you would like."

Sasuke stared at her and Anko stared back. Then Sakumo hiccoughed, making Anko look away from Sasuke, who moved to the kitchen.

Akira suddenly came behind him, carrying a big bag too.

"Hello, mina-san," a voice came from behind the bag.

"Hey there, Akira-kun."

The bag disappeared again. Naruto stared at the door through which the small boy had left.

Sakumo began to cry. "Oh, does your tooth hurt?" Anko shushed her almost one year old.

"Whaaa!" Sakumo screamed, tears forming in his eyes. Anko rubbed his back and it became less, but he still cried.

"Give him to Naruto, is all I'm saying."

At the mention of his name Naruto turned to look at Kakashi again.

"Here you go, miracle boy." Anko handed Naruto her baby boy, knowing he could silence him much faster than she could.

Naruto took the boy, sending an angry glare to Kakashi. "I'm beginning to feel that's all I'm good for."

"Oh, you're good for a lot of other stuff too, Naruto." Sasuke grinned as he sat down on the floor at the table.

Surely enough, after a moment Sakumo's crying became whimpers, and after a moment even stopped.

"Have you ever considered working with kids?" Anko asked at the same time as Kakashi put down Ren's bottle.

Naruto growled softly, and Sakumo began to giggle as he felt the vibration of the growl in Naruto's chest.

"Grrr," he giggled, waving his little arms.

Akira came into the room and sat down beside Sasuke. "How come babies like foxes so much?"

"I'm not a fox," Naruto stated.

Sasuke looked down to his chibi self. "As I remember, so do you."

Akira turned slightly red. "No I don't." He'd slowly passed that stage after entering the Academy (or so he thought).

"You did when you thought you saw Naruto as a fox in the forest some years ago."

"But I thought Naruto still had a fox-form."

"I'm not a fox."

"When you had just started the Academy, you came back from school, and told us you had to give a lecture. The topic you had chosen was 'the fox', and you wanted to take Naruto to the class."

"B-because we had to choose a topic we knew a lot about, like about a pet." Anko sniggered at this; she had never heard this story before.

"I'm not-"

"At your birthday party this year," Sasuke started.

"-a fox."

"You told your friends they could see your pet and-"

"I learned that day that Naruto wasn't a pet," Akira said, pouting and looking a bit embarrassed. "But I didn't know any better."

"Five months ago we picked you up from the Academy, and you asked if Naruto was in any way a fox, because otherwise you could have told your friends he was." Sasuke was more than teasing the small poor boy, and he seemed to like doing so.

Akira fell silent.

"I'm not a FOX," Naruto grunted.

Sakumo giggled again. "Grrr, grrrrr." His happy laughing made the previous conversation die down.

"That's my boy, grrrr," Anko said as she leaned to Sakumo, who clung to Naruto's shirt, keeping his ear pressed against Naruto's chest.

"Grrrrr."

"Don't make it worse," Naruto grumbled.

"Grrrr."

"You're doing just fine yourself."

"Keh."

"Maa, maa, don't go too far and make my boy cry," Kakashi said as he helped Ren burp.

"Maa, maa," Sakumo repeated.

Silence fell.

"Noooo, Kakashi, I told you not to teach him that?"

"Maa, maa-" Kakashi started, holding his one hand up to Anko while he held the small girl with the other.

"Maaa."

"Kakashi!" Anko threatened.

"Sorry, I'll stop, don't kill me. You don't want Sakumo to grow up without a father?"

"I'll just borrow Naruto from Sasuke; at least he can quiet down a baby."

"Ah, Anko! Don't say things like that," Naruto said to her, blushing. His hand went back to his stomach as it started hurting again when Sakumo began wiggling.

"I didn't mean-"

"Please…" Sasuke said calmly, and everyone fell silent. "There are kids in the room."

Akira looked up questioningly, no idea what hadn't been meant for his ears.

"Ouch, please take him back, he's not crying anymore," Naruto said as he got the kid off his chest and stomach.

Anko took the boy and placed him on the ground, sitting down behind him. He swung a bit before he steadied himself, and tried to crawl around.

"He didn't hurt you too much, did he?" Anko asked a bit concerned, as she saw Naruto was still rubbing his belly.

"It's alright, he can't help it. Though I think I better get to the toilet." He stood up and slowly shuffled away.

"You're a fast crawler, Sakumo-kun," Akira told the small white, silvery haired boy as he followed him through the living room slowly.

Soon he found a fluffy thing and started banging it on the floor, as far as a fluffy thing can do that.

"Ah, my school project!" Akira almost shouted.

* * *

><p>Sasuke lay on the couch with Ren lying on his stomach; both sleeping. Naruto sat at the table watching them, as Ren slowly rose with every breath Sasuke took. He couldn't keep the smile from his face. They just looked so cute together.<p>

Suddenly some sort of weird giggling sound came from Ren, and Sasuke opened his eyes.

"What's so funny?" he asked sleepily.

"Must be you," Naruto told him while Sasuke brought up his hands to make the baby girl sit up.

"What's so funny, huh?" Sasuke asked the baby again as he held her in a sitting position. Her eyes connected with his. The giggling died down and she just stared at him.

"Weird kid you got there, Sasuke."

"She's more yours than mine."

"Theoretically not."

"You carried her for 8 months."

"Way too long."

"She should actually have been born around this time," Sasuke said.

Naruto fell silent and shuddered. "Heh. Glad she came sooner. Seriously, I think I would have burst open if she hadn't. It felt like it anyways."

Sasuke smiled.

They watched the baby for a while as she kept staring at Sasuke, almost intently.

"So, I wonder who she will call father," Sasuke suddenly grinned as he looked over to Naruto, finally able to break away from Ren's stare, and sat upright.

"Eh?"

"Of course theoretically you would be her mother; and since Akira already calls me otou-san, I can only conclude your name will be…"

"What?" Naruto said a bit shocked, apparently never having thought about this before. "No, I'm not going to be the mother in this house! I deserve better than that!"

"Well… who knows." Sasuke shrugged. "Can you say kaa; say kaa-san," he asked the baby-girl.

"Stop it Sasuke." Naruto got up and walked up to Sasuke.

"It's not so hard, see, kaa-"

A hand clasped over Sasuke's mouth and he couldn't speak anymore.

"Just remember this face and it's all right," Naruto said as he pointed to Sasuke.

Sasuke started laughing. After first raising his eyebrows, Naruto couldn't help but laugh along with Sasuke.

"I hate you," Naruto laughed.

"So I noticed." Sasuke placed the baby against his chest, and he leaned back into Naruto. "You know I was just joking."

"You better be, or I'll kick your butt."

"Oh, I know. After such a long time of sitting still, I'm sure you would like to kick someone's butt. I'm not volunteering though."

Naruto grinned. "I wonder if I could talk Kiba into sparring with me."

"I'll make him."

"Are you still angry about that time when he caught me before I could fall to the ground? You know what he did was goo-"

"No, no, of course not. As the side effects of the jutsu are finally disappearing, I can say that I'm not angry at him for that any longer."

"So the effects are not completely over then?" Naruto asked Sasuke as he laid his head on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Sakura said so," Sasuke almost muttered.

"Hihi." Naruto looked down to Ren. "She's sleeping again. I told you it helps not to frown at babies."

Sasuke gave Naruto a look. "That's not why Ren-chan is okay with me."

"No, you're right." Sasuke looked up to Naruto as he shifted back a little. "It's because you took care of us so well. You showed your love." Naruto hugged Sasuke's back and Ren with it.

"Where you just… teasing me?" Sasuke asked, as he definitely though he heard some underline saying, 'because you were so over protective all the time'. And the snigger he felt in his back did only feed that thought.

"Of course not."

* * *

><p>Sasuke stood next to Naruto watching his every move, and giving him directions as what to do.<p>

"And now?" Naruto asked once more when he had completed the next step.

"You pull this up like this, and then you put the safety pin-"

"Uhuh," Naruto nodded.

"I'll do this side," Sasuke did so, and then stepped aside. "You do the other side."

"This is not so hard. I thought it was very difficult or something."

"She's not squirming so much now. Every time I do it, she starts moving her legs."

"Well, I'm just glad you can use your Sharingan even for homely usage, and copied how to put on a diaper."

"Hn."

"Oh, you're so happy now, aren't you?" Naruto asked the baby as she held her hands tightly around his fingers.

"Just get her dressed before she gets ill."

"Hai, hai." Naruto grasped a small pink skirt-thingy -a gift from Sakura- and put it on Ren.

"Why is she so quiet when you're doing this?"

Naruto looked up to Sasuke, as he was watching him; his arms crossed and slightly frowning.

Naruto grinned. "You're frowning again." Sasuke gave him a foul look. "You know how babies are with me. I can't help it."

"At least she's not crying all day."

-x-

Sasuke was walking around the living room, rocking a crying Ren.

"I knew I had spoken too soon."

"Waaaaaaah!"

"Why don't you come help me?" he asked into the empty living room.

"Because I don't feel so good!" was the reply coming from upstairs.

Sasuke slowly rocked the baby girl, and climbed the stairs. "Why are you crying? You just had something to drink, are clean… so what?"

Sasuke walked into the bedroom where Naruto was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding his stomach. Sasuke sat down beside him.

"You okay?"

"No," Naruto grunted. "It's still hurting." He doubled over in pain.

"Your intestines were damaged quite a bit, and they are kind of important."

"I already noticed that." He started making gagging motions. "Glp." He clasped his hand over his mouth, and stood up; quickly he went to the toilet.

Ren was still crying. Sasuke placed his hand on the back of her head, keeping her safely against his chest. "Don't worry, Kaa-san is doing all right..." Sasuke looked up with concern. Somehow this jutsu had done more to Naruto than just getting pregnant. After the birth his healing had slowed down a lot, because all of Naruto's energy had been put into the pregnancy and birth. "He will be."

After a while he heard Naruto flush the toilet, and a moment later he shuffled back to the bed, looking a bit pale.

"You better lie down and try to sleep some."

"Hm," Naruto agreed and did so.

Sasuke carefully laid the crying baby next to Naruto, so he could watch her.

"Please don't cry." Naruto stroked her small nose.

Suddenly Naruto stopped and looked up to Sasuke. "Are you... scared?" he asked softly.

"Scared of what?" Sasuke asked confused.

"Of taking care of her?"

"Yes, of course I am." Naruto looked up to Sasuke, surprised at his honesty. "I'm scared all the time, afraid I drop her or hold her wrong or-"

"Sasuke." Naruto grasped his hand. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"At first I was a little afraid that you... well, that you might have difficulty taking care of her." Naruto looked down to Ren, who was still crying. "But I guess you're doing quite all right; you've been doing fine for weeks."

"I had help."

"I'm just glad you like doing this."

Sasuke stared at Naruto as the blond closed his eyes in pain. Then he grinned. "I guess I do. It's like..." he closed his eyes. "I don't know; like I'm whole now. Like I always missed something."

"You regretted never being there for Akira-kun," Naruto said softly; it wasn't really a questing.

"Perhaps." Sasuke shrugged.

"I don't feel so good," Naruto mumbled as he started turning around.

"I'll take Ren-chan to her crib, perhaps she just needs to sleep?" Sasuke gently lifted the tiny girl and walked away, giving Naruto a concerned look before he walked out the door.

"Why don't you just digest?" Naruto asked his stomach, or more precisely his food. He'd tried to eat something that looked more like food, instead of something that looked like it had already been digested. Apparently this did not soothe his stomach yet.

"You're still not up for harder foods?"

"No."

Sakura came walking into the room, and handed Naruto the pail that was standing under the bed.

"She's crying?" Sakura asked as Naruto tried to sit up some, just in case.

Sasuke came back in the room. "Not even Naruto can silence her."

"Oh?"

"Blergh." Naruto hung over the pail as the last of his foods came back up. He was shaking a little.

Sakura took the pail, studying the content, while Naruto laid his hands on his stomach and cringed.

"Perhaps you should eat the goo for a bit longer." Sakura stood up to clean the vomit.

"I don't care," Naruto mumbled.

Sasuke sat down beside Naruto on the bed and laid him back in his lap, stroking his hair.

"Why's she still crying?" Naruto asked sleepily.

"I don't know."

"She doesn't need anything?" Sakura asked, putting the pail back under the bed.

"No," Sasuke answered.

"Perhaps cramps. Just leave her in the crib. She'll fall asleep."

Sasuke looked up, and Sakura couldn't help but give him a gentle smile as he had this concerned look on his face. He had that a lot lately; he was so scared of screwing things up. "I'll go check on her, to be sure," she reassured him.

"Okay."

* * *

><p>Akira was watching his little sister crawl around the living room. He had been given the task by Sasuke to watch her. Proudly Akira had accepted his duty, while Sasuke and Naruto sat on the porch whispering, and in Naruto's case giggling every now and then.<p>

"Ren-chan," Akira called to his little sister as she reached for one of his long locks beside his ears. "Don't pull my hair."

Ren retracted her hand and stared at him, tilting her head. "Ara."

"Yes, Ara is here for you." Since talking wasn't really going very well, Ara meant Akira; the 'ki' sound had been lost.

"Ara." A small hand grasped Akira's bigger, though still small, hand and began waving them. "Ara, Ara, Ara."

"Ren-chan, you want to play a game?"

"Ara, Ara, Ara!"

"I take that as a yes," Akira smiled and reached for some wooden blocks. "These were once my blocks. Kaa-chan gave them to me for my first birthday. Or so she told me." Akira smiled, and Ren let go of his hand, looking down to the blocks.

"Block." Akira said as he held one out to her.

Ren was very careful at first, just looking at the wooden object that was painted with colourful animals. She always did that, as if she had to consider the new object that was brought to her attention. She rarely touched something that was new to her.

Sakumo had been very different; once you showed him something, he immediately tried to put it in his mouth or throw it away (which he still liked to do, but unfortunately for Akira, his aim was improving rapidly).

Ren finished her observation and looked up to Akira.

"Here, take it." Akira brought the block closer to her. "Block," he repeated.

"'k. 'k!"

"Blo-" Akira said slowly. "Blo-"

"Ro."

"Blo-" Akira tried once more.

"Bro."

"K" Akira finished.

"K! K!" Ren repeated with a smile.

"Blo-" Akira said again, very slowly.

"Ro."

"-K."

"K"

"Blo-" Akira said faster now, moving his mouth in an exaggerated way of speaking, "K."

"Bo. K." Ren clapped her hands and smiled.

"Blo. K. Block."

"Bo. K"

"Block," Akira tried one more time.

"Bro-K."

"Well, that's close enough." Akira handed Ren the object and she instantly let it drop, moving her hands up, like she didn't want to touch it. "You're supposed to take it. Why don't you ever take anything from me?"

"Bo."

Akira shook his head and tried to give her the block again, and this time she took it, examining it from up close. "You can build things with it, like houses or let the animals walk around." He pointed to the animal image on the block Ren was studying.

"Bro."

"You can't pronounce an 'l', can you?"

"Ara!" Ren handed Akira the block, it was more like she let it fall in his lap and started staring at him.

"What are you looking at?" he asked with a cute voice.

"Ara!"

"You like watching things, don't you?"

"Ara!" Ren smiled and reached to Akira once more.

"You want to sit closer to me?"

"Ara!"

Suddenly loud giggles sounded from the porch, taking both Akira's and Ren's attention. Naruto was hanging over Sasuke's shoulder, and Sasuke's ears were a bit red. Naruto kissed Sasuke, and his hand disappeared under Sasuke's shirt.

"Tou."

"Yes, tou-chan and Naruto are having fun." Akira looked down to Ren. "They sometimes do things like that, but Hikaru-kun told me that when parents do that, you need to keep away from them. I don't know why though, because nothing bad happens when you get closer." Akira looked back to the blond and the raven on the porch. Ren still hadn't moved her head away from them.

"Tou. Tou-tou." Akira never knew who Ren revered to when she said 'tou', because sometimes it was Naruto and other times it was Sasuke. Although, when she called them both, she used this method, calling one tou and the other tou-tou. But again it was unclear who was who.

"I don't understand you, Ren-chan."

"Ara!" Ren looked up with big black eyes and giggled.

"You're weird."

* * *

><p>Ren was sitting in a highchair, madly waving her arms up and down. Sakura stood beside her, looking down to the baby girl, and shook her head. She had been doing that for almost half an hour now, and Sakura had no idea why. When Sakura had taken her out of the chair, she had stopped, and instead had begun whimpering. Placed back in the chair she resumed moving her arms rapidly up and down, as if she was trying to fly.<p>

Sai came walking up beside Sakura, and looked down to the baby as well. "What is she doing?"

"I honestly don't know. I really can't figure this kid out. She likes looking around and sitting still, listening to everything, and then suddenly she gets this- this outburst and does weird things like this."

"She hit her head?"

Sakura looked up to Sai. "No, she hasn't."

"How do you know Naruto hasn't dropped her? Or perhaps Sasuke, he surely wouldn't tell anyone; his pride would prevent him from that."

Sakura elbowed Sai. "Of course they haven't dropped her, she's just like this." Sai stayed silent, watching the girl giggling and waving.

"I thought Sakumo was moving too much, throwing everything you give him away, placing his hands in his food. He's was always babbling when he was her age, or trying to repeat everything I said, when he was over." Sakura sighed. "I always hoped he would calm down, and then Ren-chan came. She was so quiet and just looking around, I was relieved. But now…" Sakura stared at the small blonde; her hair was sticking to all possible directions. Sakura had tried to comb it, but it was untameable. So as a compromise she had put a small clip in her hair. People needed to be able to see she was a girl, after all.

"Probably because of Naruto, he's crazy too," Sai said. Sakura nodded in agree to his statement.

"Whenever you give me a child," Sakura told Sai, folding her arm around his waist, "let it be normal." She looked to Sai, and he was looking back without emotion, meaning he had no idea how to reply. Sakura began laughing and kissed him. "I love you."

"Sara! Saiiiiii!" Ren stopped moving her arm up and down and instead reached to them.

Sakura squeezed her eyes at the high pitched sound. "It's Sakura," Sakura tried to tell her once more.

"Saiiiiiii!" Ren said again with a high voice.

Sai stared at the baby. "Pick her up then," Sakura told Sai, and so he did.

"You're weird, Shishi."

"Not again that nickname," Sakura brought her hand to her face. After all these years Sai was still thinking up nicknames, though they had obviously become less insulting.

"What's wrong with lion? Have you seen her hair?" Ren was staring directly into Sai's eyes as Sai looked to Sakura. "What?"

"Nothing," Sakura said. She couldn't deny Ren's hair was like a mane of yellow.

"So Shishi, what is it?" Sai asked, like he did more often when he picked her up.

"Shiiiishiii~." Still her eyes were locked with Sai's. Sai stared back to her. Ren blinked once and moved her stare away to look at something over his shoulder. "Shishiiii bed!"

"Again?" Sakura asked the little girl. "You've been to bed not even three hours ago."

"Sreep." She yawned to emphasize what she wanted.

Sakura was a bit concerned by her lack of using words. Where Sakumo had been trying to make endless sentences -though they were mostly nonsense-, he had used a lot of real and non-existent words, but Ren made her messages as short as possible; though very clear. And only when she really needed to say something important, she used more than two words when absolutely necessary. On top of that, she still had trouble saying the 'l'. It was almost as if she refused to say it on purpose, because Sakura had actually heard her say 'hello' perfectly fine a couple of times when she was alone in the room.

"You can't go to bed yet, Ren-chan. You will be awake the whole night."

"No. Sweep."

Sakura knew Ren had no problem staying in bed, even though she wasn't sleeping; just staring at the mobile above her bed was fine by her.

"Sakura no oba-chan!" Sakura turned to the door, and found Akira there with the mother of Hikaru beside him. "Goodbye Tamura-san, thank you for bringing me back." Akira gave a polite bow to the mother of his best friend Hikaru.

"Goodbye, Akira-kun."

Akira ran inside and stopped beside Sai, looking up to him and Ren. "Hello Sai-san. Isn't she sleeping yet?"

Sakura came to stand beside them again. "Why, she always does that?"

Akira nodded. "She sleeps a lot! She's very lazy," Akira grinned. "Though Naruto doesn't mind, because he can be really lazy as well." Akira put his hand to his mouth and whispered. "That's what tou-chan said."

Sakura began laughing, and Sai just stood there with Ren in his arms, while she was trying to sleep in his arms now since she wasn't put to bed.

Sakura noticed this. "All right, Ren-chan, don't fall asleep on Sai's shoulder." Sakura ordered Sai to take her to her crib that was on her and Akira's joined room. Sai obediently brought her away (Sakura had trained him well).

"Oba-chan, do you want to know what Iruka-sensei taught us today about the Sandaime Hokage?"

"Tell me all about it while we make dinner."

Akira smiled widely. "He was known as-"

Sakura smiled too as Akira began telling what she long knew. Akira could be so enthusiastic about what he had learned, she just couldn't tell him she already knew or didn't want to hear it again. She moved her hand through his short fringe and his spikes.

She would like to become a mother too, perhaps in the near future? She wondered what Sai would say to that.

* * *

><p>Ren held the stuffed animal tightly pressed against her chest.<p>

"Ren-chan, give it back," Akira said sternly.

Ren shook her head. "No."

"I told you not to touch Pom-kun. He is mine, you have your own stuff-"

"No." Ren turned away from Akira and looked out of the window, up the sky, which was all she could see from her sitting position on the ground.

"Ren!" Akira warned, walking around her to face her.

"Ara?"

"Not Ara, I know you can say Akira. Give him back." He held out his hand.

"No."

Sasuke came walking into Akira's bedroom, and just saw how the fight began to take shape, as Akira and Ren had started pushing and pulling each other.

"Stop it." He didn't even need to sound angry, because they immediately stopped, and Ren even dropped Pom automatically. "What are you two doing?"

Ren turned her head away and started staring outside again, as if she had nothing to do with it, an innocent look on her face.

"Ren-chan took Pom-kun, and I told her before not to touch him. She has her own toys." Akira quickly grasped his cat toy, and safely put it away on a closet, where Ren couldn't reach.

Sasuke decided not to say too much about it. "Ren, why don't you play with your own toys?"

Ren looked at him, still that innocent look on her face with a smile and big eyes. "Hm?" She was acting like nothing had happened.

Sasuke sighed. "Ren?" he asked sternly, and Ren's smile faltered.

"Tou?" she asked sadly.

"Don't act like nothing happened," Sasuke said calmly. She could be so sneaky at acting innocent, and if he wasn't careful, she would be able to pull it off too, and he would fall for it.

Ren's lip quivered. Akira noticed so and frowned. "You're not buying it, are you?" he asked his father.

"No."

Immediately Ren's lip stopped moving, she knew it wasn't wise to go on right now. "Sorry?"

Sasuke could get very frustrated by this acting of Ren; she knew exactly what to do to convince him she was innocent. Somehow Sasuke had the feeling Naruto had something to do with this, unknowingly or not.

"I'm not the one you should apologize to, and you know it." Sasuke narrowed his eyes, trying to ignore her cute face, as hard as it was.

She slowly turned to Akira. "Sorry, Ara."

Akira huffed. "My name is not Ara."

"Sowwy, onii."

"That's not-"

"She apologized," Sasuke said.

Akira couldn't believe his father could so easily fall for Ren's tricks. All she needed to do was pout and Sasuke was like butter. He would have a difficult time to not let her go freely. (If only he had known that when he'd been smaller).

Sasuke took Ren downstairs with him. She smiled at Akira from over Sasuke's shoulder.

"You sneaky, little-" Akira muttered.

-oXo-

A/N: from whom will she have inherited that? I wonder...

We're counting down to the end now.

Next chapter will be posted next week.


	14. Chapter 14: Four Years Later

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Thank you MS3923 for beta-ing this chapter!

-oXo-

**Chapter 14: Four years later**

_26__th__ of June_

It was raining; no, that was not the right word to describe the weather. It was pouring. This summer brought a lot of water to Konoha, but that was no reason for two figures to sit calmly inside and being bored. On the contrary, they sat on the porch, leaning against the wall of the house, watching the rain.

"It's nice, isn't it, otou-chan?" A small blonde girl asked.

"Yes."

"Is it almost time already?" Ren asked, looking curiously up to her father. Big black orbs stared into smaller, narrower black.

"Not yet. The graduation is in about two hours," Sasuke answered. Ren smiled back and leaned against his arm.

"Are you cold?" Sasuke asked after a while. Ren shook her head.

Sasuke studied his daughter. She was rather small for her age; she was at least 7 centimetres shorter than her fellow 4 year-olds.

Her blonde mane of hair stood up to all sides and directions possible, even worse than Naruto's, with the exception of two long bangs, much like Sasuke's. The colour of her skin wasn't as light as Sasuke's but neither as tan as Naruto's; somewhere in between.

Suddenly Ren stood up and sat down on Sasuke's lap. She hugged him and held his chest firmly as she snuggled into him. Sasuke wrapped his arms around her, and found she was indeed not cold, but he should have known, for she, like Naruto, was almost never cold.

"I wanna be a ninja too later," she told Sasuke.

"Of course," Sasuke said, looking down at her.

Ren coughed, and Sasuke looked a bit worriedly at her. When she looked up at him she poked him in the chest.

"I'm fine."

"Hm," Sasuke knew she was. She was just a bit of a sickly child, and he couldn't help being a bit worried all the time. That's what he was a father for, after all. (Though Naruto would like to point out it was more a motherly thing to worry all the time).

Sasuke finally decided they had sat outside long enough, lifted Ren up higher on his chest and took her inside. He laid her down on the couch, and pulled a blanket with bunny rabbits over her. She snuggled into it. When he came back from the kitchen with two cups of tea, she had already fallen asleep.

They still had two hours before Akira's graduation. Sasuke wasn't worried about him passing, because he knew he would. He'd worked his way up to have the best grades in his year. Sasuke was sure he could have graduated sooner, but in a period of peace they didn't let students graduate much sooner than was necessary. Graduating at 11, however, was something to be very proud of (and so Sasuke was!)

In the mean time Sasuke decided to read his book, and he sat down at the low table in front of the couch.

An hour and fifteen minutes later Ren suddenly sat upright. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. Sasuke saw her slightly bigger than average canines, courtesy of the fox.

She slid off the couch and sat down beside Sasuke, just watching him read. Much like Sasuke she could sit still and watch something for hours. Naruto had once said that Sasuke was a master in staring, but Sasuke knew one day Ren would take that title from him (she was already close to doing so).

She seemed so calm and quiet most of the time, but sometimes the Naruto in her came above, and she would have a burst of energy. If she did, she could go a bit crazy sometimes, running around the house for no reason, playing pranks or laughing madly at the most strangest things.

Sasuke looked over to her before going to the kitchen to get her some new tea and some fruit. When he came back Ren stood in front of the window, looking out.

"It stopped raining," she told him.

"Yes, over half an hour ago."

Ren turned around to look at her father, but then saw the peaches in his hands. Her eyes widened and a smile appeared on her face. Quickly she sat down at the table beside him, and started humming as Sasuke pealed the fruits and cut them into pieces. She really was crazy about all fruits, especially mixed together.

"Otou-chan, is it almost time?" she asked again as she nibbled on the last piece, trying to savour it.

"Yes, we'll be going when you finish your tea."

Her excitement suddenly was almost uncontainable, as she gulped down her tea and started running around. Sasuke slowly stood up, went to the front door, and sat down on the stairs to pull on his sandals.

"Hey, Renergy, calm down and pull your sandals on." It was a name Kiba had come up with, 'Renergy', but somehow it had stuck when she had one of her outbursts.

Ren sat down next to him, and as suddenly as the energy burst had started, as calm she was now. Sasuke grinned down at her. Unbelievable, he thought. He still had trouble getting used to it sometimes.

The sun was shining brightly again so soon after the rain. As they walked to the Academy, Ren ran in front of Sasuke, and was about to jump into a puddle, when he could just in time tell her not to. She pouted at him, and Sasuke had trouble to ignore the cute pouting face.

"You'll be all dirty before we even get there," he told her. Sasuke looked down at his daughter as she started walking again.

She could easily be mistaken for a boy, but Sakura had interfered with that, unable to accept such a thing. She had two fathers so they wouldn't know about such things, she had told them. Sasuke had just let it go, but Sakura was the reason Ren was wearing a small denim skirt and a navy coloured ribbon in her hair to hold her unruly spikes back a little. Sasuke didn't think it was really necessary, but you could not talk around 'oba-san' Sakura's words when it came to the ribbon.

She wore a bright lime green long sleeved shirt with at the end of the sleeves a small border of denim. Sasuke sighed at the thought of the lime coloured shirt, but apparently Naruto's orange fixation had been past down onto her in the form of the colour green. There was _no_ possible way to get her to wear something that didn't contain the slightest tint of lime. _And Sasuke had tried!_ She wouldn't mind wearing shorts or pants at all, she even preferred them over her skirt, but the lime sweater… you couldn't beat her away from it with a stick.

On the left shoulder of her long-sleeved shirt she wore the Uchiha symbol, on the back of her short denim body warmer the red swirl. And the last part of her attire were her green (what other colour could it have been) legwarmers. One was pulled up to her knee, while the other had sloppily slipped down. She was a small tomboy after all.

As they walked on, they passed Kakashi's and Anko's place. Outside stood a small copy of Kakashi, except for his eyes, they were big and brown (and awake, instead of lazy looking). In character the boy was a mix between the calm Kakashi and Anko's craziness, though leaning slightly more to the craziness sometimes. Well, the boy couldn't help it, having such a mother, Sasuke thought (completely ignoring the fact that Ren could be as crazy as the small boy... It was different!)

"Satake!" Ren called out to the boy.

"Hi, Ren-tan!" he called back. Sasuke never said anything about their nicknames for each other. "Going to Akira no onii-san's graduation?"

"Hm! Onii-chan is really becoming a ninja today!" Ren yelled happily.

"I can't wait till we can go to the Academy," Sakumo said. Ren nodded in agreement.

"Bye, see you tonight," Ren said as she waved to her best friend.

"Bye," Sakumo waved back.

When they arrived at the front of the Academy, a lot of other parents were waiting for their children as well. Sasuke stood a bit to the side, not really interested in having a conversation with the other, somewhat older, parents. Ren immediately ran to the swing, and began slowly swinging back and forth.

"Sasuke-san?" Sasuke turned around to see a pretty, tall woman with long black hair walk up to him.

"Hey, Hinata," he said.

"You're here for Akira-kun." She wasn't really asking, so Sasuke didn't bother to answer. "Iruka-sensei is just taking the last few students to do the last test. Akira must be waiting inside with the others until everyone is done."

Sasuke nodded. Being an Uchiha meant he'd probably been one of the first to go. (In Japanese alphabet the vowels come first).

Because he wanted to be polite Sasuke decided to ask her how things were going. "So how is your class?"

"They're fine. They will be graduating next year." Hinata had become a teacher at the Academy when she didn't have any missions.

"Hm." Sasuke looked over to Ren, she wasn't slinging anymore, at least not with the swing. She was still swinging her legs though.

"I see she's all better again. She looks healthy," Hinata said as she looked over to where Sasuke had been looking.

"Yes." She had been very ill over a week ago. Sasuke hated that she was ill so often, but neither Sakura nor Tsunade could do anything about it.

Suddenly the chatting of the parents died down and was replaced by greetings.

"Ah, Hokage-sama."

"How are you, Hokage-sama?"

Blond hair shone in the summer light as the Hokage got closer.

"Hello, everyone," Naruto said with a big smile on his face as he waved his hand. His long deep red coat swayed behind him. Tsunade walked beside him, waving too, her two blonde pigtails waving in the wind behind her.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto said as he came to stand next to him. "They're not finished yet?" Sasuke shook his head.

"Papa!" Ren came running to them, and Naruto hunched down to hug his daughter.

"Hey, Ren-chan." Naruto lifted her up. He talked with some parents until the graduates came walking outside.

High above the others stood Akira with his brownish black hair. His hair was different in this way from his father's bluish black hair, and that he had a fringe instead of two long bangs. Two long locks of hair fell along his ears. A hitai-ate was tied around his forehead.

"Onii-chan!" Ren called to him and began swaying her little arms. Naruto put her down. She would have run Akira over if he hadn't been given the prior warning.

Akira pushed her a bit to the side to get away from her hands as they tried to touch his new hitai-ate. Naruto and Sasuke grinned at the sight as the kids stood there for a moment pestering each other.

"Congratulations," Sasuke called when he saw his son looking at him. Ren stopped trying to touch the headband and followed her brother to their fathers.

Sasuke hugged his boy, who had a small blush on his face now; his father almost never hugged him like he did now – very tightly.

"Tou-chan," he said through his teeth a bit embarrassed, looking from left to right to see if his friends hadn't noticed. Sasuke let him go and ruffled his hair.

Ren had again calmed down and was now calmly standing beside them, still holding Akira's black shirt in her small fist.

After a while they were finally able to walk home. Naruto had of course needed to talk to Iruka and Hinata first, and then some kids, and some parents, and then again some kids; sometimes Sasuke wondered why he'd wanted to become Hokage so badly.

"Who's coming tonight for dinner?" Akira asked, letting his hand slide over his new headband.

"Sai, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, Anko, Sakumo-kun and Aiko-chan."

"And after that?"

"Eri-chan, Ryomaru, Kenji, Shizune, Tsunade, Iruka-sensei, Kiba, Hinata, Yamato and perhaps Ino."

"Okay," Akira said happily as he looked down to his little sister, who started stumbling a bit. Her hand hadn't let go of his shirt yet.

"Come here, Ren." He hunched down in front of her so she could climb up his back.

"Thanks, onii-chan," she said sleepily. Sasuke and Naruto watched the two.

When they got home, Sakura and Sai were already there.

"Hello," Sakura waved to them, slowly hunching down to hug and congratulate Akira.

"Look Sakura no oba-chan!" He showed her his headband as Sasuke took away a sleeping Ren from his back.

"How are you doing, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked as they went inside and sat down at the table in the living room. Sakura sat down too, and Sai helped Sasuke with placing another table next to the other. Ren was sleeping on the couch now.

"Fine, she's quite active," she rubbed her slightly swollen belly, which contained a baby girl.

"Every time I see you I'm so glad I just had one," Naruto told her, his hand behind his head.

"Tell me about it. I'm not sure I want more children after this one and I'm only 3 months along."

Sai looked at her as if saying he would like to have some more.

A little later, Kakashi and his family entered the house. Anko sat down beside Sai with her 2-year-old daughter, Aiko. Kakashi sat opposite Naruto next to Sai's other side. Sakumo went to the couch and watched Ren wake up.

"Satake."

Sakumo grasped Ren's arm and pulled her to Sakura's right where they sat down. Sakumo was at least 15 centimetre's taller than Ren.

"Oba-san," Ren said, and was already touching her stomach before Sakura had completely turned to her.

"Hey Ren-chan, feeling better?"

"Hm," Ren nodded. "She moved!"

"Yes, she did," Sakura said as her own hand rested beside Ren's small one.

"Come and feel, Satake!"

Sakumo moved beside her, and laid his hand on Sakura's stomach too.

"Is her head here?" he asked.

"No, it's more over here. And there are her legs." Sakura pointed to her stomach. "But she is turning over every so often."

"Really?" Ren asked excited. Sakura smiled, and Sai smiled back at her.

They all chatted for a bit longer so Sasuke and Naruto could prepare dinner. Not so much later dinner was ready and placed on the table.

Ren sat beside Kakashi now, looking up to him, smiling from ear to ear.

"What do you want to eat, Ren-chan?"

"A bit of everything," she told him. Kakashi just got her some food in her bowl, and she began eating. After cleaning her bowl she asked Naruto for seconds, and thirds. Kakashi was still amazed at the sheer amount she was eating for such a small 4-year-old. He wondered why she wasn't taller.

"Ren-tan, you want to finish my bowl?" Sakumo asked his best friend, and Ren gladly accepted the offer as always.

After finishing and cleaning up the table, Sakura went to lie down on the couch as the rest proceeded their conversations. Both Ren and Sakumo were running through the house, and Aiko was happily following them as best as she could.

The doorbell rang, and Akira went to open it.

"Tsunade-sama, Shizune-san," he said happily as he opened the door.

"Hey brat, congratulations. A new medic ninja." Tsunade gave him a healthy hug, and Shizune followed her example, only less busty. Together they entered the living room.

"Wow, you've grown a lot, Akira-kun," Yamato's voice sounded as he came in via the back porch, along with Eri, Ryomaru and Kenji.

Soon, almost everyone was there, and Akira stood proudly with them, a big smile on his face.

"Wow, I can't believe little Akira-kun is a ninja now," Eri said as she pulled her hand through his hair.

"Eri-senpai!"

"You don't need to call me senpai all of a sudden. What happened to just Eri?" Eri asked.

Akira pursed his lips. "I'm a ninja too now!"

"He's right, Eri. We are his senpais."

"Come on, Kenji-kun."

Ryomaru laughed.

Over at the couch, Sakura was sitting up straight again, and was obviously thinking as she watched the children run around.

"I think I want to try and find out how we can help Ren after the baby is born," Sakura told Naruto and Sasuke.

"You think you can?" Naruto asked as he looked up to her from his spot on the floor.

"I don't know, but I want to be sure I tried everything. I'm afraid she won't be able to become a ninja if she keeps getting sick all the time."

Sasuke nodded. Ren was almost never seriously ill, but enough to give her a small fever and make her cough a lot. She wouldn't be able to go to the Academy in such a condition though, and probably miss a lot of classes.

"She is now old enough to do some other tests."

Naruto looked up to her. "What tests?" he didn't like tests, even the word was forbidden to him. Ren felt the same way.

"Nothing bad, Naruto, I wouldn't do anything like that to a child, but she can give better feedback to me now, as she understands better herself what is going on."

Naruto nodded. "I understand." He looked over to Ren as she was laughing with Aiko.

"I think it might have something to do with her chakra," Sasuke suddenly said.

"Why do you think that?" Kakashi asked as he leaned in closer to the conversation.

"I'm not sure, but-" Sasuke looked at Naruto. "I think I saw her chakra a few days ago when we were throwing some shuuriken in the garden. It seemed to be black."

"Oh?"Sakura looked down curiously. Kakashi seemed to be thinking this over.

"What? Really?" Naruto asked.

"It's what I think I saw." Then it probably was true, Naruto thought.

"That's a weird colour, isn't it?" Sakura asked.

"I've actually never seen completely black chakra before," Kakashi said.

"Me neither," Sasuke said.

"Well, it's not so hard to find that out, isn't it?" Naruto asked, hoping Ren might perhaps not need to have all those tests done.

"But the effects remain unclear," Sakura told him.

"Hm." Naruto tried to locate Ren, as he had lost her for a moment at the mention of black chakra. He heard her outside with Sakumo.

"Otou-san?" Aiko stood next to Kakashi.

"What is it sweetie?"

Aiko picked a clip with a flower from her lavender hair and gave it to Kakashi. She smiled at him.

"Thank you?"

"Put in! Put in!"

Naruto reached for the clip, and put it in Kakashi's askew hair. Kakashi stared at Naruto as a foxy grin appeared on the blonds' face.

"Perfect," he said.

"See, see, tou-san."

Kakashi turned to his daughter and she smiled.

"Perect," she tried to copy Naruto and ran away.

Sakura giggled, and even Sasuke's mouth was twitching. Kakashi pulled the clip out of his hair.

"Ohw, don't take it out, Kakashi-sensei."

"Shut up, Naruto."

"Satake!" Ren screamed through the house, ran past them, and was gone.

"Don't yell in the house!" Sasuke told her before she disappeared around the corner.

"Oh, loosen up, Sasuke-kun."

"Just wait till you got one."

Naruto shrugged as Sakura looked at him.

"So, Sakura-chan, already been thinking of names?"

"Yes, we got a few we are considering."

"Not just girls names, right? Because you never know," Naruto told her, looking at her with a straight face.

"It was very hard to tell because of the chakra womb!"

"We know Sakura-chan, everybody makes mistakes."

"Na-ru-to!"

"Don't get your blood pressure up, Sakura-chan."

Sakura narrowed her eyes as she glared at Naruto. Naruto grinned and swayed his tail mischievously.

"I wish that doctor was still alive and knocked you up again," she growled.

Naruto's face fell. "That's low, Sakura-chan." His tail fell down on the ground.

Sakura sighed. "I know, I know."

"He might actually die if that happened again," Sasuke told her sternly.

"I was just joking."

"Still not funny, not even after almost five years. My intestines still churn around when I think of it." Naruto laid his hand on his stomach to prove his point.

"And you still have pains too, don't you?" Sasuke gave Naruto a piercing look.

"I... um..." Naruto looked away.

"You do?" Sakura asked, now a bit worried.

"Nothing serious." Naruto tried to wave it off.

"Every October 18th. You think I hadn't noticed?"

Naruto looked guilty as he tried to avoid Sasuke's gaze. "Er-"

"I never noticed," Sakura said as she thought this over.

"He hides it well," Sasuke said.

"Can we please talk about something else?" Luckily for Naruto, Eri shuffled closer.

"Sensei, please don't send us to Sasaki-san anymore."

"Who?"

"That woman in the Wave country with the 'small' thieves problem."

"But you handled that just fine, didn't you?"

"But not the woman, she is terrible. If I ever see her again-"

"I understand," Naruto grinned and began swaying his tail on the ground once more.

Ren and Sakumo came running by again, back to the garden. Aiko couldn't keep up with them, and sat down grumpily at the table, Anko trying to cheer her up.

"So I heard you might have a boyfriend?" Sakura asked Eri.

Eri blushed. "N-No! That was an accident!"

"What was?" Naruto asked curiously, teasing her.

"N-nothing. I think Ryomaru is calling me," she said as she turned away.

"You kissed a boy on your last mission, didn't you? Was he cute? A farmer, am I righ-"

"Sakura-sensei!" Eri said in shock, completely red now.

"Oooh."

"Sensei, stop it." She hit Naruto in the arm as he lifted it to protect his face, still smiling.

"It was an accident, I told you!"

"Hm?"

"Kenji pushed me!"

"He did?" Naruto asked, already knowing full well what had happened.

"Accidentally!"

"Sasuke-sama, tell them! You were there with us!" Sasuke smirked, but kept his mouth shut. "Sasuke-sama!"

"She wasn't pushed, was she?" Sakura asked Sasuke.

"Ah!" Eri was beginning to panic now. "No! It really _was_ an accident!" she said almost hysterically.

"Come on, Eri-chan, we're just teasing you," Naruto said as he pulled her closer, laying his arm around her shoulder. "We know it was an accident."

"You- That- Sensei!" Eri spluttered.

Naruto laughed as did Sakura and Kakashi. Eri was shivering from anger.

"That's mean."

"Tail, tail," they suddenly heard a soft voice singing.

Eri looked over Naruto's shoulder to see Aiko trying to grab Naruto's tail as he swayed it back and forth.

Naruto grinned as she looked back to the rest. Kakashi sniggered as he looked at his little girl.

"Tail, tail, tail."

"Oh, that's so cute," Sakura said as her hand rested on her slightly swollen belly.

"Makes you wish you had a tail as well, doesn't it?" Naruto asked, grinning.

"Not really."

-x-

Aiko had fallen asleep against Kakashi, Naruto's tail in her hands while she hugged it as if it was a teddy bear.

Anko saw this, and stood up to tell Akira she would go home to bring the children to bed. She went upstairs, bringing Sakumo and Ren with her when she came back.

Kakashi handed her Aiko, who sleepily rubbed her eyes while Naruto's tail was lost from her reach.

"Tail," she said drowsily, hugging her mother tightly.

"Say bye, Akira-kun, bye everybody."

Aiko waved, but didn't say anything.

Naruto's team went along home with them. They waved goodbye, and Anko almost had to drag her mini-Kakashi with her.

"Bye Ren-tan," Sakumo waved before following his mother as she pulled him with her.

"See you tomorrow, Satake. Bye Aiko-chan."

"Ren-rin, bye." Aiko waved her small hand sleepily.

Before Naruto knew what had happened, he found himself sitting with Ren on his lap, nestling against him and her arms around him. This was a sign that she was sleepy.

"Shall I bring you to bed?" he asked her as his hand slid through her spikes.

Ren shook her head in his chest. So he stayed sitting like this, while Ren fell asleep. Like Naruto she could sleep almost everywhere instantly.

"It seems like your Renergy is out off the field," Kiba said as he sat beside Hinata and Naruto.

"Yeah," Naruto looked down to his daughter.

"You're so cute together," Hinata said. Naruto smiled.

"I just hope she will never awaken her Sharingan," Kiba said.

"Why not," a smooth, calm, but eerie voice came from behind Kiba. Kiba froze on the spot, and slowly turned around.

"I was just kidding, Sasuke. You're no fun," Kiba awkwardly laughed, and Hinata and Naruto exchanged looks.

"Oh, that would be cute."

"What?" Hinata asked Ino as she seemed to be imagining something, giggling to herself.

"Ren, with a Sharingan," Kiba rolled his eyes, "purring as she sits next to Sasuke-kun."

"Eh..."

"Keep your fantasies to yourself Ino," Sakura told her.

"But that would be so cute!" Ino interjected.

"She doesn't purr, don't say things that are no-" Sakura was interrupted.

"She does purr." Akira slapped his hands over his mouth.

Silence fell as everyone turned to face Akira.

"What?" Sasuke was the first to speak.

Akira twisted a bit on the spot, looking around uncomfortably. "About a month ago Ren asked me if she could help me with my homework. I told her she couldn't, but that I would show her my medical book when I finished." Akira looked up to his father.

"And?" Naruto asked, trying to encourage Akira to proceed, as he felt Ren grip his shirt in her sleep.

"So I showed her the book, and told her about some organs and things. I don't think she was even listening, but she was smiling all the time and nodding. Suddenly she began purring, so I looked up to her."

Akira looked around the room as he now had everyone's attention; Yamato, Kakashi, Tsunade, Kiba, Hinata, Sai, Sakura, father and Naruto. They all were waiting for him to continue.

"When she realised what she was doing, she stopped."

"I can't believe it."

"And that calls himself the father of-" Kiba stopped at the stare he got, but he couldn't contain himself and burst out laughing. "Never thought to see the day where Sasuke looks surprised."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously, but Kiba was too busy laughing to notice.

"Did she tell you anything about it, Akira-kun?" Sakura asked from her place on the couch.

Akira shook his head. "No, not really." Akira looked down to his feet. "She only asked me not to tell you."

"Why not?" Naruto asked.

"She made me promise not to tell you." Akira looked to his little sister and bit his lip. "After that she fell asleep, and I didn't ask her anything about it when she woke up." His voice died down.

"It's all right that you told us Akira-kun," Sakura said softly.

"I wouldn't, but I-" he looked to his feet again, and started shifting uncomfortably. "But I misspoke, and I was a bit concerned since she hadn't told you yet." Then he looked up from Sasuke to Naruto and back. "But don't be mad at her! She's just... she doesn't like being ill all the time, and she just didn't want to worry you, and she..." he looked down to her. "Don't get mad at her," he repeated after a moment of silence.

"We won't, don't worry Akira-kun," Naruto smiled. Akira nodded, sitting down again. Yamato ruffled his hair, and a smile appeared on his face again as he tried to make Yamato stop.

"Well, if she had gotten Sasuke's talent, at least she would have had a lot more benefit from that then Naruto's purring and-"

"Hey, watch your mouth; you're talking about the Hokage you know!" Naruto told Kiba as he grinned back. Hinata sighed, and Sakura shook her head.

"For the love of-" Sakura hit Naruto and Kiba on the back of their heads.

"Sakura-chan!"

"Come on, I was just joking. Naruto knows."

"I do."

"You see."

Sakura didn't apologize and just glared back, holding her belly. "Don't make me angry right now," she warned them.

Sai cautiously got closer to Sakura, placing his arm around her. "Calm down, you're going to get nauseous this way."

"Tell _them_," she said, pointing to the cause of her anger.

"Hormones," Naruto whispered to Kiba.

"What?" Sakura's eyebrow twitched.

"Calm down, Sakura-chan. I've been there remember," Naruto pointed to her belly, "I can say such things."

"Perhaps we should get you to bed?" Sai suggested as the twitch didn't leave Sakura's eye, though her anger wasn't growing. She couldn't deny what Naruto had said.

Sai helped her up, and they walked to the door. Akira politely helped them and waved goodbye, Sakura being strangely sweet all of a sudden.

"Well, then..." And so it was that almost everyone left the house. Only Tsunade and Kakashi were still there. Tsunade hadn't finished her sake yet, and Kakashi just wasn't ready to stand up or something.

"I'm going to bed as well," Akira told the rest. "Thanks for coming. Oyasuminasai,"

"Good night, Akira-kun, and good luck with your team," Tsunade called after him as he walked away.

"He's become a fine genin. I'm proud he has become a medical ninja." Tsunade put down the small bottle of sake.

"Hm," Sasuke nodded, very proud himself. He actually smiled. Then looked over to his other child. "Shouldn't you get her to bed?"

Naruto pouted. "She's alright with me." He curled his tail around Ren. Sasuke just stared and Kakashi grinned.

Tsunade moved closer to Naruto and the little girl, and stroked her hair. "Her hair seems to have grown back alright," she stated.

Naruto shook his head as he grinned.

"She said she wouldn't try to cut her hair anymore."

"Why had she done so in the first place?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"She said she just felt like doing so," Sasuke answered.

"Yeah, Aiko did something similar, but then to Sakumo." They laughed as they all remembered Sakumo with more or less straight up standing hair, instead of it hanging in the angle it normally did like Kakashi's.

Tsunade moved her hand from Ren's hair to her ears.

"It's gotten worse," she noted as her fingers felt the soft ears.

When she had been born, Ren had normal round ears. Later on they had grown pointier, and now some black hairs had grown on them, making them have furry tips.

"I hope it won't get any worse," Naruto said.

"At least she doesn't have a tail?"

Sasuke gave a small sigh of relief. "No."

"In the end she ended up inheriting more fox traits than we thought," Kakashi said.

"The teeth, her ears, the purring" Sasuke counted, "And I actually think she has oval pupils, but you can't see it with her black irises."

"Really?" Naruto asked, looking down at his kid. Then he hugged her tightly, without waking her. "I'm so sorry~, Ren-chan, that papa did this to you."

"Hmm," Ren murmured.

"She'll handle it, Naruto," Tsunade told him. "Just like you did."

"But I wasn't a child."

"You still are, gaki," Tsunade told him.

"Hé," Naruto said offended. "You can't say that to-"

"I can."

"Cannot."

Tsunade smirked. "Well, I drank all my sake. I think I'll be going then. I have to take over Sakura's class tomorrow."

Naruto grumbled, and Sasuke gave Kakashi a look.

"Maa, maa, I understand. I'll go as well."

-HorizontalLine-

"Otou-chan?"

"Hm," Sasuke said without looking up from his newspaper.

"Otou-chan?"

"Yes."

"Otou-chan?"

"What is it Ren?" Sasuke looked up to his daughter as they all sat at the dinner table in the kitchen for breakfast. He lowered his newspaper.

The answer he got was an enormous smile and eyes that blinked two times.

"What?"

She blinked again at him, and then directed herself back to the food she was eating.

Sasuke grumbled as he looked back to the newspaper. "Your daughter is acting weird again," he told Naruto, who stopped his arm halfway to his mouth and grinned at him.

"She's your daughter too," he smiled.

"This was all from you."

"Sure."

Ren just swung her feet and smiled. She liked getting these kinds of reactions out of people, especially Sasuke.

"Papa?"

"Yes, Ren-chan?" Naruto smiled at her.

"Can we go to the playground today?"

"Sure we can."

Sasuke sighed and dove deeper into his paper. "Don't you have Hokage duties?"

"I'll send a Bunshin; nobody will say anything about it."

"You think people will even notice?" Akira asked curiously.

"Some good ninja, but I guess most won't." Naruto laid his hands around his cup of tea. "So how is your team doing, Akira-kun?"

"Well, not so bad actually. We did 10 D-rank missions yesterday."

"Ah, yes I remember. That means some paperwork for me," Naruto laughed.

"But a better kind of paperwork than when we would have failed the missions, right?"

"True."

"Onii-chan?"

Akira looked over to Ren.

"When can I meet your team?"

"We got training the day after tomorrow in the morning. I can pick you up during lunch?" Akira looked over from Sasuke to Naruto and back. Sasuke nodded.

"Yeah!" Ren threw her hands in the air. "What team number did you have again?" she asked, lowering her hands and gripping her chopsticks, placing them in her hand, but did nothing with them.

"Team 16!"

"Can't I come to training sometime and train with you?"

"First you need to go to the Academy," Akira told her like only an older child could to his little sister; like he had seen things in the world no one else had.

"Oh~." Ren pouted.

"You will be a ninja too, one day, but you need to work up to it."

"Hm," Ren said sadly.

"Don't worry Ren, you just enjoy your playing with Sakumo and Aiko for now. You like playing with them, don't you?" Sasuke asked as he stroked his hand through her unruly short hair.

"I do!" Ren exclaimed happily.

"I have to leave now," Akira said as he cleaned up his plate and cup, and walked to the door. "Have fun today, Ren!" he told her.

"You too!" she called back before he closed the door.

Silence fell again and Sasuke finished reading the newspaper He folded it up neatly.

"Otou-chan?"

Sasuke looked to Ren, who was fumbling with her fingers on the edge of the table, looking down to it.

"Yes?" he asked softly.

"You come too, to the playground?" she looked up to him. She had those eyes again, those cute, dark eyes he couldn't say 'no' to.

Sasuke sighed and smirked at her. "I have a short mission first, but-"

"ANBU?" Ren whispered.

Sasuke looked down with a secret kind of look. "Hm," he said mysteriously for the wanted effect.

Ren closed her mouth tightly, and she became very quiet for a moment.

"I won't tell anyone," she whispered back.

"You know what I will have to do when you do," Sasuke said with an exaggerated stern voice, teasing her like always.

"No," Ren said, trying to stand up and run away.

Sasuke reached forward and began tickling her.

"No~, please," Ren managed to say between her laughing. Sasuke kept tickling her and the laughing became louder. Naruto just looked at the scene in front of him, smiling. He knew Sasuke liked the sound of her laugh.

"I won't tell!"

"I don't believe you."

"I p-promise!"

Sasuke stopped tickling and lifted her up from her doubled over position, putting her on the ground. "Go get dressed before I leave and you're still in your pyjamas." Sasuke pushed her off. She ran upstairs.

"It's so interesting," Naruto said, as his head rested on his hands while he was leaning on his elbows, watching Sasuke carefully.

Sasuke looked over to Naruto while he cleaned the table, but didn't say anything; he only raised his eyebrow slightly. This meant 'what?'

"That you can be so 'strict' and loving at the same time."

"Hn."

Naruto got his own plate and cup, and put it in the sink as he let water run to wash it off. Sasuke helped him.

"Aren't you in a kind of a hurry?" Naruto asked him.

"The others can wait for a minute."

"You're so cute when you leave everything for your daughter." Naruto leant against Sasuke's shoulder.

"I'm just helping you wash."

"While actually waiting for Ren to get ready so she can kiss you goodbye."

"Don't know what you're talking about."

Naruto leant even closer, his lip dangerously close to Sasuke's. "Of course you don't." He kissed Sasuke. Sasuke at first didn't do anything about it, but (of course) he just couldn't resist and kissed back.

"I'm ready! You're not gone yet, are you otou-chan?" Ren yelled before she was even at the staircase.

Sasuke broke the kiss and walked up to the front door, sitting down on the stairs to put on his sandals. "Almost," he told Ren as she carefully came down the stairs, and hugged him from behind.

"You can't leave without saying goodbye," she told him as she pouted.

"Can't I?"

"No~"

Sasuke smirked. Naruto watched them as he leant against the doorpost between the kitchen and the small hall.

"Alright then." Sasuke turned to Ren. She kissed him on the cheek.

"Bye, otou-chan!"

"Bye, Ren. Try not to hurt yourself too much today."

"Hmm." Ren could be pretty wild and bold when she was playing with Sakumo, and often returned home with a few bandages.

Sasuke closed the door. Ren still stood on the stairs, staring at the door.

Naruto thought back of the time he hadn't been able to imagine Sasuke as a father for their child. That he hadn't been sure they could handle to have one, but Kakashi had been right. Becoming a father was the best thing that had happened to him. And becoming Hokage of course.

Naruto smiled as he remembered Sasuke and a little Ren in his arms. When he was so careful and afraid he would hurt her or make her cry. He was still careful with her... No, not careful, caring. He was very caring to her. He wanted her to be happy even though she was ill so often.

Ren had changed Sasuke in so many ways, but at the same time he had stayed the same. He was protective of her, in a bit different way he'd been to Akira. He smiled more often to the both of them. He was incredibly proud of Akira, though he would not openly admit how much. In some way he was more open, but also not and still the Sasuke he was.

Apparently becoming a father did that to you. And since Sasuke had become a 'real' dad when Ren was born, he was able to fit his role as father for Akira better as well. Not always to the advantage of the boy though. Naruto grinned.

Then suddenly Ren turned to Naruto. "There's market today?"

"Yes."

Ren smiled at him, saying nothing, but Naruto knew enough. "We can go."

"Really?"

"Yes, because some fruit eating monster ate all the fruit yesterday." Naruto rubbed his chin.

"I'm not a fruit eating monster," she told him.

"Oh, so it was you then?"

"Hm," she pouted. Naruto laughed.

"Let's go then. Don't forget your coat."

Ren calmly walked beside Naruto as they walked down the street. Naruto greeted some people, and Ren politely waved at them. She was calm again; the Sasuke in her.

At the market Naruto let her choose some fruits, which became more than he had intended. Ren held his tail, like she always did on the market. There where Akira absolutely never touched an animal's tail, or Naruto's without asking, Ren just grasped it and held on to it.

Naruto grinned as he suddenly thought how his Bunshin was working in the office, handing out missions and signing forms. Why Tsunade had never been so smart to do something like this...

He actually already knew the answer. A voice, much like Kakashi's said '_because you have a massive amount of chakra, not everyone can make a clone walk around all day'_.

"Let's go over there now," Naruto pointed to the Yamanaka stand. He thought of buying a new plant for in the house.

"Hm," Ren said as she looked in another direction, and Naruto had to drag her to come with him.

Naruto stood checking out all the potted plants while Ren patiently waited, though she did sigh quite often. She knew how Naruto could lose himself when it came to plants. They probably had to stand here for a while.

It wasn't like she couldn't wait, but there were more stands, more interesting stands she wanted to go to.

She was proven right, and only because Kiba came walking up to them, Naruto was able to decide quickly which plant to pick.

"Hey Renergy."

"Kiba-san." Ren let go of Naruto's tail and walked up to him, walking around his legs slowly. Naruto paid for the plant as Kiba walked up beside him.

Kiba looked around at all the plants and sighed. "I forgot what irises looked like."

Naruto pointed them out. Kiba was buying some flowers for Hinata probably. Her hobbies were pressing flowers and decorate things with them.

"She absolutely _had_ to have those flowers today, but she was busy at the Academy," Kiba told him with a low growl.

"They are very nice. I would take the blue ones."

Kiba looked them over and shrugged. He picked a few and bought them.

"Kiba-san? Where's Akamaru?" Ren asked as she looked around, looking for the big dog.

"He's helping my sister with a mission."

"Okay. Say 'hi' to him?"

"I will. Bye." He took off again.

"Can we go home now?"

"You were the one who wanted to go to the market." Naruto looked down at his little girl, with some cornflower seeds in hand and an orchid. Sasuke and Akira liked orchids.

"I'm bored now."

Naruto sighed. "We need to get some things from the supermarket first."

"Hm," was the grumbling reply as Ren grasped his tail again.

"We can get ramen," Naruto said after they walked out of the supermarket with full bags. He gave the orchid to Ren to carry.

Ren pulled up her nose.

"Not?" Naruto asked a bit taken aback, even though he knew Ren wasn't into ramen as much as he was.

Ren shook her head. "I wanna go home."

"You're not whining, are you?" Naruto glanced down to the small blond.

"Hmhnn," she mumbled something not understandable.

As they were getting closer to home Ren suddenly spoke again. Naruto had tried to have some conversations with her, but she had given him only short replies (Naruto knew she had gotten that from Sasuke to annoy him, he just knew it).

"Can we see oba-san?"

"I don't think Sakura-chan is in for that right now."

"Why?"

"She needs to rest." He didn't say she probably didn't need to see her every day.

"Can we go to Satake then?"

"You go to him tomorrow, remember? And you wanted to go to the playground later in the afternoon; Sasuke promised you he would come too." Somehow Naruto never called Sasuke otou-san in front of the children, only by his name, like Sasuke always called him by his name (or nicknames).

"Oh, yeah."

Had she already forgotten? Perhaps she was more like him than he thought.

As they passed Kakashi's and Anko's place, Ren looked sadly over to the house and then to Naruto. Naruto shook his head and she pouted, looking down.

"I think you're a bit spoiled..." Naruto told her, a small grin on his face, testing her.

Suddenly she walked up straight and looked in front of her. "I'm not, look!" She marched onward, her sad look completely gone and replaced by a stern look that reminded Naruto so much of Sasuke. He grinned openly.

Arriving home, Naruto put away the groceries, and Ren walked to the living room to put down the orchid. When Naruto brought two apples to the living room, he saw Ren curled up on the couch.

"Tired?"

Ren nodded, her eyes closed. Naruto sat down beside her and covered her with a blanket, putting the apples on the table. Soon her breathing evened out, and Naruto just stayed watching her as the blanket slowly rose. He stroked her soft cheek and stood up.

-x-

Ren sat in front of the window, looking at the rain while nibbling on a piece of a pear.

"I really wanted to go to the playground today," she said sadly.

"We can do other things, inside."

Ren walked up to the table and got another piece of pear. She went back to look out the window again. "I know, and I like looking outside at the rain, but still..."

Sasuke looked at her as she leaned over the rug of a chair to look at the falling rain. How she could stare at that for hours was even beyond him. Not even he could look at the rain for that long.

He felt an arm snake its way around his waist, and looked down into big blue eyes, blinking innocently at him. He sighed and laid his own arm around Naruto. Naruto cuddled him.

"Hm," Sasuke smiled.

Together they watched Ren for a while, until the door opened and a soaked Akira came in. He mumbled something and went upstairs, probably taking a shower.

"Onii-chan is home?" Ren asked, wondering how she could have missed seeing him walk up to the house.

"Training was probably cancelled. His sensei doesn't really like training in the rain," Sasuke told her.

When Akira came downstairs again, wet hair and wearing a loose shirt and pants, Ren stood up and hopped to him. "Onii-chan, will you help me make tea?" she carefully grasped his hand and looked up to him.

"Okay, come." In the kitchen Akira lifted Ren up and placed her on the kitchen counter. Ren filled the kettle with water and Akira put on the gas.

"Onii-chan?"

"Yes, Ren?"

"How was training?"

"It was okay." Akira smiled. "We have been doing some chakra control exercises."

"You are good at that, ne?" Ren smiled. The kettle began to whistle.

Akira almost blushed. "Yes, but I can still improve." Akira took the kettle from the fire and poured the warm water in a teapot. "Can you carry the cups?" Akira gave Ren two cups.

"I can take more!" Ren took the cups, but Akira had already placed the other cups on a tray with the teapot.

"How were things at the playground?"

Ren pouted. "We didn't go because of the rain."

"Oh, that's too bad." Akira walked over to the living room, Ren followed.

"But we went to the market. We saw Kiba-san there. Akamaru was on a mission, so he wasn't there."

Akira placed the tray on the table and saw Sasuke and Naruto still cuddling. "Tou-chan!" Sasuke looked around to Akira. "You think you can disconnect for a moment?" he frowned.

"Why Akira-kun, you never minded before?" Naruto turned around as well. They let go of each other, but they were still sitting very close.

"It's because of Akane." Sasuke looked down to his son while he said this. Akira had taken place on the ground as well. Ren looked curiously between the two look-alikes.

"Why would you say that?" Akira was barely able to keep the blush from his face.

"Oh, you mean that time she was over and we kissed in front of them?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto!"

"Yes, because of that," Sasuke answered.

"Why, it's not like we never-"

"I'm 11 years now! I think you just can't do that anymore." This time Akira did blush and looked away.

"Onii-chan, you're red."

"Shut up."

Ren tilted her head and then looked over to Sasuke and Naruto. "I don't understand."

"Neither do we," Sasuke said, though he had a small grin on his face.

"Never mind," Akira mumbled. Sasuke took the teapot from his grasp and began giving everyone some tea.

"Onii-chan?" Ren whispered. "Is it because of what I saw-"

Akira clasped his hand over Ren's mouth. "No!"

Of course both Naruto and Sasuke were curious now. "What did she see?" Naruto asked with a foxy grin on his face. Akira didn't like that.

"Nothing!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What were you two doing?" he asked with a raising voice. Akira gulped, and Naruto elbowed Sasuke in the side.

"Don't be so mad, you don't even know what happened."

"I have my suspicions."

"But you can still ask nicely."

"Like you did?"

Naruto grinned. "I'm just curious."

Akira took this chance to stand up and sneak away.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sasuke asked, without turning his head to his son. Akira gulped again. "Sit!"

Another elbow. "Sasuke! Let him be."

"Why? I want to know what is going on here."

"I thought you knew."

"I said I had my suspicions."

"Meh," Naruto shrugged.

Akira sat down again, very stiff and looking at his hands in his lap.

"Is otou-chan mad?" Ren asked softly, having almost disappeared under the table. She was just peering over the edge, her hands gripping the table.

"Sasuke isn't mad, right?" Naruto gave Sasuke an angry look; Sasuke ignored it. He looked down to his son.

"What did Ren see?"

"Nothing interesting." Akira turned his face away.

"Sasuke, stop it! Let him be."

"I want to know."

"And then what?"

"I think I need to have a talk with him after that."

"Huh?" Obviously Naruto was thinking something different, or thinking about it in a different way than Sasuke did.

"Onii-chan? Are you scared too?" Ren shuffled closer to her older brother, still only her eyes came above the table. Akira just watched her come closer; he didn't dare to move at the moment.

"Ren, you can go to your room."

Ren perked up. "Why? I didn't do anything."

"You don't have to, just stay here," Naruto told her.

"Naruto!" Sasuke warned.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said back.

"I want to talk to my son."

"Not like that, look at him." Naruto pointed to Akira. "He's scared."

"He should be."

This time Naruto elbowed him so hard, Sasuke doubled over.

"Urgh."

"So, Akira-kun, please tell what happened," Naruto smiled. "I promise I'll contain Sasuke."

Akira slowly looked up and saw Sasuke still leaning on the table, panting, and finally dared to speak.

"It was an accident!"

"Was it my fault?" Ren asked from beside him, holding his shirt.

"Actually, yes."

"I'm sorry."

"What happened then?" Sasuke was beginning to sit up again, opening his mouth, but Naruto pushed him back to the table.

"It really was an accident!"

"I know."

"They kissed," Ren blurted out, unable to keep the information to herself any longer.

Sasuke sat up so quickly, that Naruto was too late to push him back. "What?"

"Accidentally!" Akira was now blushing madly and Naruto smiled, elbowing Sasuke once more. Sasuke was really not paying attention to him to be elbowed so many times. He growled as his now sensitive side was abused again.

"Go on," Naruto smiled.

Akira eyed his father for a moment. "We were just talking and then Ren came in." Akira seemed close to a panic as Sasuke frowned at him. "She opened the door very enthusiastically."

"I accidentally hit onii-chan," Ren admitted.

"And then we... ACCIDENTALLY!" he almost screamed as Sasuke was sitting up again.

"Come on, Sasuke." Naruto grasped his shirt and pulled him back. "You probably forgot our first kiss."

Sasuke stiffened.

"Ooh, tell me, tell me, tell me," Ren almost sang.

Sasuke turned to Naruto. "That was different."

"How so?"

"We were..." Sasuke had obviously trouble to come up with a good answer.

"We were 12, we just graduated, someone accidentally knocked me over, and we _accidentally_ kissed. How's that different?"

"Because..."

Silence fell for a second.

"You kissed at school?" Ren asked, and this time Akira couldn't help but smile a little as well.

"In front of the whole class, nonetheless." Sasuke gave Naruto an angry glare for telling that. Naruto shrugged.

"Then onii-chan wasn't so bad? Only I saw it." Akira pushed Ren. "Hé?"

"Shut it, Ren," Akira whispered. Ren blinked at him.

"Oh, come on Sasuke. You can't tell the boy off for that." Naruto leaned closer to Sasuke and hugged him. "You know it."

Sasuke grumbled as indeed he knew he couldn't. Naruto smirked.

"You two can go play upstairs or something," Naruto told the two. Akira hastily gulped down his tea and left. Ren seemed to be confused as she looked between Akira and Naruto.

"I can stay?" she asked.

"Of course you can." Ren smiled at that. Naruto shook his head. "Sasuke, sometimes you really overreact."

"I have all the reason to overreact. I'm his father." Sasuke crossed his arms.

"He told you it was an accident."

"Doesn't matter," Sasuke said stubbornly.

"Sasuke~," Naruto leaned in closed, and laid his head on Sasuke's stiffened shoulder. "What would you think if your father had reacted like this."

Sasuke's head snapped up, and then a shiver ran down his spine. "I wouldn't have ever let him know in the first place."

"It's worse for you, isn't it? You kissed a boy."

Sasuke stayed silent and didn't move.

"Why is that worse? Is kissing a girl better than kissing a boy?" Ren tilted her head.

"No, but normally a boy only kisses a girl."

"No they don't," Sasuke protested. "Men kiss women."

"Oh, come on, Sasuke. How old were we when we-"

"18; you're an adult then. A man, not a boy."

Naruto didn't react, but looked down to Ren again.

"There's nothing wrong with kissing anyone." Ren's lip had started quivering and still did. Sasuke saw now as well.

"Otou-chan doesn't like-" she sniffed, "when I kiss him goodbye?"

Sasuke seemed lost; how could he make this up? Naruto saw his dilemma, but didn't bother to help him. He was in fact curious how Sasuke wanted to solve this.

"That's so mean of you, Sasuke."

Sasuke gave him an evil glare as he was making things worse, and then turned back to Ren. A tear was rolling down her cheek and she sniffed again.

"That's very different Ren. I'm not a boy, I'm your father. A father can kiss his daughter, as well as the other way around."

"So, otou-chan is not a boy?" Ren sniffed, looking confused.

"No, he's a teme," Naruto joked, earning him a slap on the back of his head.

"I was a boy, now I'm a man." Naruto snorted and Sasuke gave him another look. "But that doesn't matter, I'm your father, and as a father I have different rights." Naruto couldn't contain himself and started laughing.

"So, otou-chan doesn't mind me kissing him?" Ren looked up with her watery black eyes.

"Not at all," Sasuke smiled.

Naruto shook his head. Sasuke purposely stalled in the morning before he left, so Ren could kiss him goodbye. And now he was acting like this? It was just too funny.

Sasuke again hit Naruto in the head, hoping he would stop laughing.

"And papa doesn't mind either?"

Naruto looked up to Ren, while still rubbing his head. "Did I ever say something like that?" Ren thought for a moment, and then shook her head. "So don't cry, okay?"

Ren smiled, she stood up, and finally followed Akira upstairs.

"Don't say anything," Sasuke warned Naruto, but Naruto didn't need to say anything. He just smiled.

-oXo-

A/N: Officially, this was the end of the story.

Unofficially... I got a few more chapters, but they're not all finished yet, so updates will probably not be very regular from now on.


	15. Chapter 15: All Fun and Games

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Thank you MS3923 for beta-ing this chapter!

-oXo-

**Chapter 15: Five years later Part II – All fun and games**

_14__th__ of August_

Ren and Sakumo were playing in the back garden at Kakashi's place.

"Satake, Satake, Satake," Ren called as she stood on the ground, looking up into the tree Sakumo was hiding. "I found you."

"Ren-tan, come up here. Look at this."

And thus Ren began climbing up the tree. So when Anko came outside a few minutes later, she saw no children. She scanned the garden again and found the tree in which they were sitting. Knowing everything was fine she went back inside, to her daughter.

"See that!" Sakumo pointed out of the tree. "You can see your papa's face from here." He was pointing to the Hokage monument.

"And ojii-san."

"Only his left eye. But Tsunade-sama; you can see her too."

"You wanna be Hokage?" Ren asked Sakumo as she sat down on a branch.

"Maybe."

"Yeah, me too maybe."

"But first a shinobi."

"Un."

They heard singing and looked down, over the fence into the garden of Sakumo's neighbour. Ren grinned evilly and leant forward.

"What are you doing?" Sakumo whispered.

Ren began to make some sort of growling sounds, hoping to scare the neighbour. Sakumo looked a bit disapproving.

"Sakumo-kun, is that you?" The neighbour asked, looking up. She was wearing an apron in which she was collecting apples from her apple tree.

"Mo, Satake~," Ren pouted as her plan had failed.

"Satake?" the lady asked.

Sakumo move onto a different branch to make himself visible for his kind neighbour. "I'm sorry, Hitomi-san. Ren-tan is here. She calls me that," he told her happily. "Because my name is Hatake Sakomo... Satake," he smiled.

"I see. How nice for you to have a friend."

"She's here more often!"

"I thought I had heard you play before. You two want an apple?"

Ren couldn't deny such a treat.

"Yes, please," she said as she sat down beside Sakumo.

"Ah, Ren-chan I presume. You have a cute friend, Sakumo."

Ren smiled shyly and Sakumo grinned. "Best friend!" he said.

Hitomi smiled and handed the both of them an apple. "Here you go, one for Sakumo-kun and one for Ren-chan."

"Thank you," they said in unison.

"Just don't fall out of the tree," Hitomi said as she walked away again.

"You should not try to scare Hitomi-san," Sakumo told Ren. "She's nice."

"It didn't work anyway," Ren said before she took a bite of the delicious apple.

Suddenly Sakumo was touching Ren's ear. "It's getting softer," he said.

"Mu."

"You don't like it?" Sakumo asked, tilting his head.

"Otou-chan and papa..." Ren murmured something Sakumo couldn't understand.

"Are they mad at you?"

"No."

"They don't like it?"

"I don't think so."

"Then what is it?"

Ren shrugged. "I'm always ill, and there's always something wrong... different," she told him softly as she fiddled with the apple.

"I like it."

Ren looked up surprised.

"Why?"

"Because it's cool, I would like to be different. Now everybody says how much I look like dad." He smiled and Ren did so too.

"Really?"

Sakumo nodded.

"Can you see in the dark like Naruto?"

Ren blushed.

"That's so cool!"

"Don't tell anyone," she whispered with a serious look.

Sakumo straightened up. "I promise, cross my heart." He did so.

"Thanks, Satake."

"You're always so much fun to play with."

-x-

"Ren-chan, your otou-san is here to get you," Anko yelled into the back garden. Some bushes moved revealing yellow and silver hair.

"Otou-chan!" Ren attacked Sasuke, who just stayed standing as she attached herself to his leg.

Kakashi came from behind him, having trained together, and received a smile from Sakumo.

"Tou-san," he said.

"Sakumo," Kakashi smiled back.

Sakumo couldn't hug his father like Ren did, because he was a boy and boys didn't do that. Or so he had told himself. Mothers where different though. You could hug them once in a while, but only because they could get really annoying if you didn't.

"You two had fun today?" Kakashi asked, though he already knew the answer, because it was always the same.

"We did!" They said together.

"Hatami-san gave us an apple," Ren said.

"Hitomi-san," Sakumo corrected. Ren grinned.

"She's nice."

"Did you thank her?" Sasuke asked.

"I did!" Ren let one arm go off Sasuke's pants and gripped Kakashi's instead. "Did you two have fun today too?"

Kakashi grinned, though Ren couldn't see that because of his mask. "We did."

"You must be tired?" she looked over to Sasuke.

"I think I can make it home."

"Really?" Ren asked.

"Otherwise you'll carry me, won't you?"

"Nooo! You are too heavy, otou-chan!" Ren pulled at his pants.

"Ren-tan, you are so stu-"

"Am not," Ren cut Sakumo off.

Sakumo grinned. "Of course he can walk home. You're the one that needs to be carried."

Ren pouted. "I-" she quickly looked up to Kakashi and Sasuke before looking back to Sakumo. "I do not! I can walk home myself!" she crossed her arms.

Sakumo opened his mouth to say something. "Sakumo…"

Sakumo swallowed and looked up to his mother. "Hm?" Anko shook her head.

Aiko came stumbling around the corner.

"Niinii," she called Sakumo. Sakumo sighed, but after he saw the look he got from his mother, his face fell and he walked over to Aiko.

"Aiko?"

"Help?"

"With what?" he almost whined.

"Drawing?"

Sakumo sighed.

"Bye, Aiko-chan," Ren waved.

"Ren-rin go?" Ren nodded. "You don't play?"

"Sorry."

"Yes, a pity," Sakumo said softly.

"Satake!"

"Come on, let's go Ren." Sasuke turned around and opened the door.

"Ah." Ren quickly followed him. "Bye everyone."

"Bye."

Halfway home Ren almost tripped a few times.

"You want me to ca-"

"No." Ren straightened up and walked on stubbornly.

"I don't mind."

"No!" Ren said once more. "I can walk by myself."

"But I like carrying you," Sasuke tried, seeing Ren was tired. She had probably had a wild day today. He also noticed some bruises on he legs.

"I can walk, otou-chan."

"Have you been climbing in the trees again?"

"We have." Ren smiled, looking up to Sasuke. "And we rolled down the grassy hill, and we played hide and seek ninja, and we played who dared to come closest to old man Chiwa, and-"

"What?" Sasuke looked down to Ren, confused.

Ren shrugged. "And we ate pancakes, and I fell down a couple of times when we played tag, and-" Ren continued.

"You did quite a lot today."

"A really lot." Ren stumbled again.

"Ren?"

Ren stopped walking and looked up.

"You can say when you're tired." Sasuke stopped beside her.

Ren pursed her lips, turned away, wanted to take a step away, but stopped. She turned back to Sasuke when he hunched down. "I'm tired!" She flew around his neck.

Sasuke smiled, lifting her up. "You see, that wasn't so hard."

"But I could have walked home on my own!"

"I believe you.'

-x-

When Sasuke got home, Ren had already fallen asleep. He reached out to open the door, when suddenly the door opened before he could do it.

"Ne, Sasuke-!" Naruto saw Ren in Sasuke's arms and stopped. "Sorry," he whispered, opening the door further to let the two in.

"What are you doing here so early?" Sasuke asked after placing Ren on the couch and standing in the kitchen, looking at what Naruto was trying to cook.

"I've got a meeting in half an hour, so I though we could eat early today."

"You have to leave tonight… _again_?"

Naruto could have sworn he saw Sasuke pout. "Sorry." He placed his hand around Sasuke's waist. "I'll make it up tomorrow?" He went to stand on his toes.

"You said the same yesterday." Sasuke turned his head away.

"You're not whining, are you?" Naruto grinned. "That doesn't suit you." Naruto got closer, his lips grazing Sasuke's cheek. "I like it." He folded both his arms around Sasuke's chest.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto out of the corner of his eyes. "Do you?"

"Yes." Naruto kissed him.

"How much?"

"Huh?"

"Enough to stay home?"

Naruto looked confused. "What?" He wasn't used to Sasuke acting like this.

Sasuke turned to the cooking. "It's almost done. Where's Akira? Still training?"

"I suppose so." Naruto stood staring at Sasuke, while he acted like he hadn't said anything. Sasuke grasped the pan and took it off the fire, walking into the living room.

"Wait, Sasuke!" Sasuke wanted to wake Ren up, but Naruto stopped him, pulling his shirt. "Are you angry?"

"Of course not." Sasuke turned back to Ren, but Naruto stopped him once more.

"If we hurry up eating dinner, I can…" Naruto started whispering and tracing hi s fingers over Sasuke's arm. Sasuke was interested, coming closer to Naruto. "We can get a quiet shower together." Naruto sniffed Sasuke's shirt. "You smell." Naruto smiled as he peered up, receiving a same kind of smile.

Sasuke quickly turned away, shaking Ren. "Come Ren, dinner is ready. Hurry up."

* * *

><p>Sasuke was in the garden, plucking apples from their small apple tree. The apples weren't very big yet, but the tree was still small too, and they tasted way better then the apples they bought.<p>

Ren came running out, jumped off the porch, made a circle around Sasuke and the tree, and ran back to the porch, stopping in front of it. Akira was sitting there, cleaning and taking care of his ninjas weaponry.

"You wanna throw shuuriken?" Ren asked him, and Akira looked up to her.

"If you can wait till I'm done."

"I can!" Ren ran again in a circle on the spot, and climbed up the porch to sit down on it, leaning against a beam.

She sat there very silently. Akira smiled as he saw her staring at the garden. The first time she had done that, waiting for him, Akira had felt a bit uncomfortable, wanting to hurry up so Ren wouldn't have to wait anymore. But later he had come to notice Ren didn't mind waiting, it didn't matter if it took 5 minutes or 5 hours. When he'd asked her, she had told him that she actually liked waiting, because then she could look around.

So Akira just went on with taking care of the kunai in his hand, without feeling like he had to hurry up or something. Just finish your work like you normally would and everything would be fine.

Suddenly Naruto appeared in the garden next to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, if the Ranji asked me to do this-"

Sasuke looked down to Naruto as he asked him for some advice about some clan. He did that sometimes, coming over to Sasuke when he knew he was home, and ask him for confirmation. The harder decisions he mostly left for his advisers; Shizune, Shikamaru, Tsunade and some other ninja.

When he came like this, Sasuke mostly agreed with what Naruto had come up with. Sasuke knew he didn't really needed his advice, more the confirmation he wasn't doing something stupid (as he did sometimes), but Sasuke wasn't so sure if he wasn't just to take the chance to get out for a while.

"Are they good?" Naruto asked Sasuke when he was done asking his help, pointing to the apples.

Sasuke handed him one. "You decide."

A small sound came from the porch. "Eep," or something similar.

Naruto and Sasuke turned around, seeing Ren staring at them; especially at the apples.

"You think she wants one, or is she just happy seeing me?" Naruto asked. Ren took the bait.

"Hmmm," she squeaked softly, and now Akira looked up to her as well. Her eyes zoomed in on Naruto's hand.

"Oh, she really missed me."

"Hn. Here." Sasuke gave Naruto another apple. "Make your daughter happy."

"Hey Ren-chan."

"Hi, papa." She had only eye for the apples in his hand, even as he sat down beside her.

Akira looked up to Naruto as Naruto looked at him. Akira shook his head before returning to his cleaning and ordering.

"Doesn't papa get a kiss?"

Ren looked up to Naruto, stood up and kissed him on the cheek. She sat down again, and continued staring at the apple as she made a sound similar to a wine from a dog when he wants something.

"Is there something Ren?" Naruto asked as he brought one apple to his mouth, and she followed it with her eyes, her lower lip quivering. Her eyes became bigger as the apple came closer to his mouth.

Naruto took a bite, and Ren couldn't contain herself any longer, flinging around his arm.

"Please papa, can I have one too?"

Sasuke shook his head as he saw Naruto teasing their daughter. Sasuke had meant for Naruto to _give_ the apple to her, but not like this. He turned away before he would say something about it, and walked over to the vegetable garden.

"Oh, you want one too, Ren-chan? I had no idea."

Akira huffed, shaking his head again, still keeping his eyes on his shuuriken as he sharpened it.

"Please, Plea~se?"

"Hm... I don't know; I feel like eating two." He took out the other apple, and Ren almost couldn't contain herself from grabbing it, but Sasuke had told her before: you don't grab, or grasp for things like that; you ask politely.

"Can I have an apple too, papa?"

Naruto handed her the apple. She smiled broadly, before she began taking small bites from the apple.

"So, Akira you're free this afternoon." Naruto saw how he was now cleaning his new and most valuable weapon, a wakizachi he and Sasuke had given him for graduating.

Akira nodded. "Sensei had to do something else, some clan meeting or something." He looked down to Ren. "I'm going to help Ren with her practice later."

"Great."

Akira looked around from Naruto to Ren, and saw all her attention was on the apple as she nibbled it happily. He leaned closer to Naruto, and as Naruto noticed this, so did he.

"Tou-chan said he would teach me the summoning technique after I cleared my first C-rank mission."

Naruto smiled. "Really? That's great."

Akira smiled, he had no intentions by saying this to Naruto at all. "That's why I'm working hard, so we can earn a C-rank mission."

"Do your best." Naruto smiled and so did Akira.

Naruto stood up and walked over to Sasuke, while he was now picking strawberries and raspberries.

"You don't have to leave yet?" he asked Naruto.

"I left a clone as usual." Naruto began helping him pick the small fruits. "I was thinking about sending you on an ANBU mission to Kiri soon."

"But?"

"The mission will take so long... too long."

"How long?"

"About three to four weeks probably."

"I see what you mean," Sasuke answered casually.

"But your squad is the best one to do it."

"That's a shame."

"So I have no choice."

"We'll just have to do some catching up afterwards," Sasuke smirked.

"I knew you wouldn't object to the mission," Naruto said sadly.

"You want me to make a scene?"

"You can come by later to tell me how much you don't agree on sending you there."

"I think I should do that."

Naruto stopped picking raspberries and ate one. Sasuke stood up as well.

"I guess I'll be going then."

"Bye," Sasuke came very close to Naruto, their noses almost touching, but pulled back again. Naruto pouted and turned away.

"See you later," he said to Akira and Ren.

"Bye papa!" Ren waved, Akira smiled, and then Naruto was gone.

Sasuke walked back to the house so he could bring the picked fruits to the kitchen. He saw Ren licking her fingers as the small apple was eaten all the way to the core.

"You come and wash your hands? Otherwise all the shuuriken will stay sticking to your fingers."

Ren stood up. "Really, they will?" she asked excitedly.

-x-

"Why?"

"Look closely. You have to watch this side of the shuuriken when I throw it, okay?"

"Hmhm."

Akira threw the shuuriken to the pole where it hit the target dead on in the centre of the white cross that was painted on it.

Ren had all the while stood still, fixated on the shuuriken, and was still staring at it as it was stuck in the wood.

"You saw that?"

"Not at all."

"But I just told you to watch-"

"I did, but I didn't see."

"Ah..."

Ren looked up to Akira, and pointed to his red eyes. "Is it because of your two comma eyes?"

"It's called the Sharingan, Ren, and the commas are tomoe." Ren just smiled, probably forgetting it already. "I'm sorry, that might be it, I just... automatically..." Akira muttered and grasped another shuuriken from his side; teal eyes looking at the target this time.

"Ooh, again, again," Ren clapped as she turned back to the pole again, looking at it very intently. Akira smiled, and almost laughed as he saw her standing there.

"Okay, ready?"

"Hm," Ren nodded.

"Now!" Akira threw the shuuriken again, and it hit the pole right beside the other shuuriken.

"I guess it's not as clearly visible as I thought," Akira admitted. "But I could see it a little."

"I didn't," Ren said happily.

Akira pulled up an eyebrow as he looked down to his smiling sister.

"Why are you smiling at that?" Ren shrugged. Akira shook his head, grinning as he walked over to the pole to retrieve his recently cleaned shuuriken, and began throwing again

"Onii-chan?" Ren asked after watching her brother for a while.

"Yes, Ren."

"Does it hurt?"

"Does what hurt?"

"Your eyes?" She pointed to his red eyes.

"No." Akira watched Ren for a moment. "Do your eyes hurt then?"

"No."

"Then why do you ask?"

"Because it looks painful; they look like their bleeding." She said in a way like she thought it was scary, but in a more theatrical way.

Akira laughed. She meant they look as red as blood, not that it looked like they were really bleeding. "I wouldn't use them if it hurt, now would I?"

Ren thought for a moment and then shook her head.

"I like your normal eyes better," she said when Akira's eyes became teal-coloured once more.

"The colour you mean, because they are not different eyes."

Ren smiled. She probably didn't understand it. That was what Akira had come to know what that smile meant.

Ren had a lot of different smiles, like Naruto; a real genuine smile, a sad smile, a teasing smile, a joking smile, a more serious smile, a I-don't-understand smile, a I'm-serious smile, a happy smile, a confused smile, a cheerful smile and many more. They were all slightly different in their own way, but Akira could only understand them half of the time.

"I'm going to help tou-chan in the kitchen," Akira said as he saw Sasuke in front of the kitchen window, looking at them.

Ren pouted while she held a shuuriken in her hand. "Hm," she said sadly and threw the shuuriken.

"You know what, Ren?"

Ren looked up to Akira, hopeful.

He flicked her forehead. "Itai," Ren said as she put her hands on the sore spot.

"Maybe later," he told her and straightened up. Slowly he walked inside.

Ren was still pouting and softly grumbling outside, her hands still covering her forehead, as she watched Akira walk away and enter the kitchen.

When he looked up to Sasuke ,Akira saw him smiling at him. "What?"

"Nothing," Sasuke said and gave him a basket of carrots he could cut in pieces. "Nothing."

-x-

After dinner they all sat down in the living room, Naruto on the floor at the table writing something. Sasuke and Akira were reading on the couch. Ren was crawling around, not really doing anything. She would just suddenly sit still and stare at the bookcase for a few minutes before proceeding her crouching around the room. Her family was used to it; it had no use to ask questions about why or what she was doing.

After a while she came crawling to Naruto and leaned against him, looking at his writing, but unable to read it.

"You need to do a lot?"

"No, I'm almost finished."

She reached for his tail and laid it around her waist, playing with the hair, braiding it. Naruto looked down at her with narrowed eyes as she continued making small braids.

"Hm," he huffed. He just went back to his paperwork, the sooner it was finished the better.

Suddenly Ren sneezed, almost wetting Naruto's papers. Naruto's pen slipped over the paper as he jolted at the sound, leaving a long ink scratch on the paper.

She looked up to him and smiled, showing her teeth. "Sorry."

Naruto sighed and muttered something; now he had to do it all over again (he had been taking his time to neatly write everything down this time). So as compensation he ruffled Ren's hair, making her ribbon slide off, over her eyes.

"Papa!"

She started fiddling with his tail again, as Naruto put the ruined paper aside and went to write another one.

When Naruto finished his work half an hour later, he noticed Ren had gone to the enemy, and was now hugging Sasuke.

"Traitor," he muttered. He cleaned up his stuff, but looked up to Ren when she spoke.

"Will you read to us, otou-chan?"

Everyone looked up to Sasuke. Ren's shiny black eyes stared into his own black orbs. She leaned forward, coming closer and closer, waiting for him to say yes. He then saw Naruto look in almost a similar way, and Akira was smiling too, already putting his own book away and grasping for another one. He handed Sasuke the book, and Ren pulled away from his face to lean against him.

He just couldn't say no to all this. Naruto sat down next to Akira. They all waited for Sasuke to start reading.

Sasuke grumbled, not because he didn't felt like doing this, but because he should just do that; he was like that, and he just couldn't admit he didn't mind reading to them. Ren pushed against the book once for Sasuke to move on. Her father opened the book on the page where he'd left the last time he'd read to them.

"Arachne was very well known for her outstanding weaving abilities. Her father coloured wool for a living and her mother had already passed away. She was living in simplicity, in a small village called Hypaepa. The goddess Minerva had heard of her excellent weaving skills, and wasn't pleased when people said she might have learned this from the goddess herself. So she dressed up as an old lady and went over to Hypaepa."

As Sasuke was telling this story from the book written by Ovid(ius) he looked around, having already scanned the page. Naruto had his eyes closed, and Sasuke knew he was having difficulty to refrain from purring (last time Akira and Ren had given him an annoying look when he'd purred through Sasuke's reading too loudly). Akira was staring outside with a small smile on his face, and Ren was still leaning against him, looking at the book filled with the Japanese writing and the pictures.

Sasuke turned his eyes back to the page when he neared the end of it. He turned the page to continue his story. "After Arachne's words, Minerva straightened up, showing her real form instead of that of an old lady. 'I am already here'. And so the contest started; Minerva would show this child she could not taunt her with her weaving."

His deep voice went up and down on exactly the right moments. It was almost as if he'd read the book before, and was just retelling it. He probably had read the book before, Naruto reminded himself, a long time ago, but that didn't mean Sasuke had forgotten all about it. Naruto wondered if he could read this book to them without even opening it; just doing all this for show, and so that Ren could look at the images.

He so badly wanted to purr, and almost pouted at the thought that he couldn't. Sasuke had never minded him purring while he read, but they weren't the only two in the house anymore. Akira and Ren had made clear they only liked to hear Sasuke's voice while he read to them. The looks he'd gotten from the two the last time he'd started purring would even have made Sai back away. Naruto had been very sad after that, sitting alone in a corner instead of on the couch next to the others (he hadn't dared to get closer to the children after that, afraid of the consequences if he might start purring again).

"But when she was hanging there in her own threads, Minerva started pitying the girl. 'Live on! But you will live on a thread, stupid child.' Minerva sprinkled some dust over Arachne. She started to change. 'Your punishment will not make an exception for your children or your grandchildren.' Arachne changed, becoming smaller and grew legs. As a spider she would live on and keep on spinning her entire life."

* * *

><p>Ren sat on Naruto's shoulders as he carried her through the forest. Her hands were resting on his head, playing with his spikes. Suddenly she stopped and carefully stroked his ears. They twitched and she pulled her hand away for a second. When she touched them again her voice sounded softly in the forest.<p>

"Do you..." Naruto moved his head up a little as he listened to her. "Do you feel different?"

Naruto moved his head back down so he could see where he stepped, and thought this over for a moment. Ren patiently waited.

"Sometimes, I do."

Ren stroked his ears again as she bit her lip.

"But..." Naruto stopped walking. "But then I remember you, and Akira-kun and Sasuke, and my friends, and everyone; and I don't care anymore, because they are my friends and the people I love. They have accepted me for who I am. They make me feel normal again."

Ren bowed her head and softly gripped his ears. "Is it... " she stayed quiet.

When she still hadn't spoken after a couple of minutes, Naruto took her of his shoulders and hunched down in front of her.

"When I just got this tail and these ears, I wasn't feeling... like myself, and I was a bit afraid of what people would think. These thoughts don't just disappear after a night of sleep. I think I still have them now, but I also know that they are not that important anymore."

Naruto put his hand around her face, and Ren looked directly into his eyes.

"You might feel different now; be a little afraid of what is happening and what others might think, but we all got that. It isn't bad."

"But you are the Hokage... how can you be afraid?"

"I'm afraid of a lot of things, but I also had to learn to get over some fears. It's not always easy, but you will get through it, just like I did." Naruto kindly smiled. "You might be a little different too, like I am, but that also makes you special."

"Satake said he likes it that I'm different."

"You see? Sakumo-kun likes you for who you are. When you go to the Academy, you will find more friends that think the same way."

"Friends."

"Yes, friends. It doesn't matter if you have one friend or twenty, but friends are there for you. Remember that if someone doesn't like you for who you are, they are not worth to be your friend. Don't pay too much attention to them. Just play with Sakumo-kun then; he'll be there for you."

Ren carefully smiled. "Satake is nice."

"And you got Sasuke, and Akira-kun, and me, and Sakura-chan, and Kakashi-sensei, and Anko and Aiko, and-" Ren really smiled now, though her eyes were shining a bit from tears.

"Papa, I'm scared. I know I'm not alone, but I'm scared. I like you all, and I like Satake, and I love you and otou-chan, but I'm scared." She stood there, tears rolling down her cheeks, her head bowed down and her arms hanging beside her body.

Naruto hugged her. "That's alright. I was also scared a lot when I was little. You're not different for that. I bet even Sasuke was scared when he was little."

"Y-you think so?"

"I know so."

"I..."

"Don't worry Ren-chan. We will protect you, and when you're a bit older and become a ninja, you will be able to protect yourself."

"You think... I'll be a ninja?"

"Why not? You want to, don't you?"

"I do, I really do!"

"Then you will. If you want something, go for it. It was my dream to become Hokage and protect the villagers. I wanted to surpass all previous Hokages. I never backed down from that dream. I sometimes felt a bit down and wondered if I could do it, but the next day I would try again. If something doesn't work out immediately, don't say it was wasted time. Try again. Stand up and go for it the next day, or sometimes the next week," Naruto laughed. "Look where it got me."

"You are Hokage."

"You see? If you want to become a ninja really badly, don't stop because others tell you that you can't; prove them wrong. Show them you can be a ninja."

Ren stared at him, tears had stopped falling, and she seemed to think about what he'd just told her.

"I believe you can do it."

Ren stared at him for a moment. "I will!"

"That's my girl. Now let's get those tears off your face." He stroked his fingers over her cheeks to dry them, and they became a bit red from the rubbing.

"Thank you, papa."

After Naruto was done and Ren kept staring at him, he grabbed her hand and they walked on.

Slowly Ren cheered up again, and when they were almost out of the forest, she was laughing.

"Papa?"

"Yes, Ren-chan."

"Is it okay, for us to be different... together?"

"Sure," Naruto smiled and Ren returned it.

-oXo-

A/N: I took the story of Arachne and Minerva out of the book 'Metamorphoses' by Ovid, but rephrased it, to make it (a lot) shorter. I still don't understand why in English Greek and Roman names loose letters. Ovid should be Ovidius, so that's why I placed the rest of the name between brackets ^^


	16. Chapter 16: Tricks of the Uchiha

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Thank you MS3923 for beta-ing this chapter!

And to all reviewers and readers, thank you for reading (putting the story on your story alert and/or favourites), and for taking the time to review! Me happy :3

-oXo-

**Chapter 16: Five years later Part III – Tricks of the Uchiha**

_15__th__ of September_

A woman with short reddish brown hair and a braid, wearing a weasel mask; a man with long black hair with white tips, wearing a tanuki mask; a man with orange hair and a lion mask and a man with short black hair that stood on end in a way no one's did, wearing a hawks mask, all stood in front of him.

"So you ignored the mission and went into the building. You got the information and also took a scroll you thought was very important," Naruto concluded weasel's story, staring at the scroll in weasel's hands.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Shishi-san, please bring the scroll to Shakimaru," Naruto told the orange haired man.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The man with the lion mask straightened up.

"You can all go home now, except for Taka," Naruto said with an angry underline in his voice, waving the other ANBU away from his office.

"Good luck, Taka-taicho," the woman told him, placing her hand on his shoulder as she said this.

"I don't think he needs it, Itachi-san," Tanuki grinned behind his mask, but everyone could hear it in his voice.

"Says you." They closed the door as they left the office.

"Please explain what you don't understand about a _covert_ mission saying 'only collect information'?" Naruto asked Taka angry, his voice rising. Taka stayed silent, staring in front of him.

"I told you not to go inside, and what did you do? You just waltz into the place an-"

"We didn't waltz in there, Hokage."

"Don't interrupt me! What if-?" Naruto nearly shouted.

"We weren't seen. We were very careful," Taka said very calmly.

"That doesn't matter, and don't interrupt me!" Naruto growled, and all Taka did was shrug. "An order is an- what are you doing?" Taka was walking around the desk toward Naruto. "Taka? I'm not finished yet!" Naruto threatened.

Taka didn't seem to care and just sat down on Naruto's lap.

"Wha-? Sa- Taka!"

Taka removed his mask, and Sasuke showed a smirk on his face as he leant closer to Naruto.

"Sasuke, don't remove your mask; I'm not done with you yet, and your still in function," Naruto said trying to sound angry, but his voice was wavering a bit; especially when Sasuke began kissing the side of his neck.

"You can go on, as you can see, I'm still fully _in function_."

"Taka... Sasuke, that's not what I meant with in-" he moaned as Sasuke licked his ear, "-in function."

Sasuke moved his hands over Naruto's chest, his orange shirt wrinkling at the touch. He went on with his ministrations, causing Naruto to be unable to tell him off any longer. Instead he folded his arms around Sasuke and started kissing him back.

Sasuke smirked and stood up, pulling Naruto with him. He turned Naruto around himself, and pressed him against the desk in such a way that Naruto fell backward.

"Not on the pa-"

Sasuke pushed his tongue into Naruto's mouth; his hands undid the button of his red coat, and then moved to the bottom of his shirt, pulling it up so he could touch the tan skin with his hands.

Naruto gripped Sasuke's ANBU armour, and pulled him closer.

Now Sasuke's hands were fiddling with Naruto's pants, but Naruto pushed his hands away. "Not now, Sasuke."

"But I've been away for almost a month," Sasuke said between kisses.

"No, Sasuke." Naruto kept pushing his hands away, but they kept coming back. "You can wait till we get home. I'm," Sasuke kissed him, "working."

"No you're not. And I can't wait." Some quick breaths were taken between the words and kisses. "When I get home, Akira and Ren will be happy to see me, and will not leave me alone all evening. In the morning Sakumo will probably be around."

Naruto couldn't deny that. "But we-" Sasuke gave Naruto a long and passionate kiss, silencing Naruto once more.

Suddenly Naruto stopped moving and cringed, closing his eyes, his ears flattening against his head. Sasuke went up a little to see Naruto more clearly, and looked him over, wondering what was wrong, even though he had a feeling-

"Naruto?" he asked with suspicion.

The door opened. "Naruto I need to ask you if-"

Kakashi stopped, and stared at Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto still had his eyes closed, as if hoping no one would see him if he had them closed. Sasuke just stared back at Kakashi like nothing was wrong while he was hanging over Naruto on the desk.

"Maa, I think I'll come back later." Kakashi slowly retreated.

"And please lock the door, Hatake."

Naruto slapped Sasuke on his arm, while Kakashi closed the door and closed the lock. They heard him take out the key.

"Why did you do that?" Naruto asked, blushing.

Sasuke just took his chance at lowering Naruto's pants and boxers.

"Ah, Sasuke!" Naruto said annoyed.

Sasuke silenced him once more as they kissed. Sasuke lowered his own pants and quickly and expertly turned Naruto over.

"Sasuke, not like th- aah." Too late.

As revenge Naruto curled his tail around Sasuke's waist very, very tightly.

"Um... Naruto, I can't... move like this," Sasuke said, sounding a bit in pain. Naruto grinned; _just what he deserved_, he thought.

So Sasuke bend over him, and started kissing the back of his neck, hoping this would distract Naruto. Naruto pulled up his shoulders, and cringed at the touch as it tickled. His tail loosened its grip on Sasuke, and Sasuke could begin moving.

"Sa- not on the p-" But Naruto couldn't get out any other words as he moaned.

"Don't worry," Sasuke whispered in his ear as his hands wondered over Naruto's body, snaking under his shirt. He knew Naruto didn't like this position because he wasn't facing Sasuke.

Then Naruto felt hands move to his stomach. "I'll hurry things up a bit, then."

"No, Sa-" Naruto moaned again, as did Sasuke, not sounding like he was protesting at all.

Sasuke did a good job, and after having to miss Sasuke for a month, Naruto couldn't deny he was glad to see him again. His purring was all the confirmation Sasuke needed… well not the only confirmation he needed.

Naruto came and cramped up on his desk. Sasuke moved for a bit longer till he reached his high as well, and lay down on top of Naruto, panting softly.

"You see, nothing to worry about."

Naruto growled and pulled out a paper from underneath him, cringed and... well...

"I told you, not on the papers!"

-o-o-o-

Kakashi, Sakumo and Ren were walking down the street, coming out of the grocery shop. Ren was skipping while holding Sakumo's hand. Sakumo obviously was in doubt; not sure what to do. He was a boy, and boys didn't join hand with skipping girls, but on the other hand, Ren was his best friend. In a way he liked walking hand in hand with her.

"Can you stop skipping?" he asked.

"No." Ren pulled his arm. "You can skip with me; it's fun!"

As Sakumo kept looking at the skipping blond, he couldn't deny it sure looked like a lot of fun. So when Ren pulled his arm again, he carefully started hopping.

Kakashi was walking behind the two children, smiling as he saw his son blush while he started skipping.

"You see? This is fun!"

Sakumo nodded. "It's even more fun to race!" he countered.

"It is!" Ren said back enthusiastically. They both stopped skipping.

"Let's race to that tree over there," Sakumo suggested.

Ren nodded. "San," she said.

"Ni," Sakumo counted down.

"Ichi!" They both yelled and sprinted away. Sakumo seemed to be winning, but just before the end, Ren made a sprint and won just by a few seconds.

Panting she leaned against the tree, "I... won..."

"Barely," Sakumo said, breathing more heavily too.

Within a couple of steps, Kakashi had caught up to the two, and stopped at the tree when he saw them rest. "You two are tired of this little sprint?" In fact it hadn't been a very small run for children, and they had run very hard, but Kakashi liked to tease the kids, always trying to get more out of them.

"No!" Sakumo straightened up and puffed his chest. "Of course not!"

"Me," Ren took a deep breath, "neither!" She tried to breathe normally again, but failed.

"Haha, you are Ren-tan!" Sakumo pointed to her and laughed.

"No, I'm not! You are Satake!"

"Am not."

"Am too."

"Am not!"

"Am too!"

"Am _not_!"

"Am- Alright," Ren admitted, crossing her arms over her chest. Sakumo smiled, proud of his small victory. They started walking again, and this time they had started a contest of who could carry more groceries.

"I bet I could carry the cauliflower _and _the leek," Ren told Sakumo.

"But I could carry the rice, and the bread, and the banana's, _and_ the popsicles!"

Ren thought this over, trying to decide how she could carry more without adding too much weight.

"Why don't you both carry half the bag," Kakashi suggested as he held the lightest bag of the two up to the two arguing kids. Ren and Sakumo nodded enthusiastically.

"Okay." They each took a side of the bag and walked on.

"I'm carrying more," Sakumo started again. Ren however, couldn't deny this.

"I know." Sakumo looked up for a moment and then grinned. "I'm stronger."

"And I'm faster."

"But not by much."

"But you're not stronger by much either!" Ren protested.

"Okay," Sakumo agreed and Ren smiled.

"Just wait till we get to the academy together!"

"We will finally be able to catch up to Akira no nii-san."

At the beginning of spring, a new school year had started, and Kakashi and Anko had brought Sakumo to the academy. For the entire week they had brought him to the academy, but all he had done was yell and scream that he didn't want to go. At the academy Hinata had told Kakashi all he had done was make trouble, and didn't really pay attention to anything happening in the class.

Anko and he had been speechless when they had asked Sakumo why he didn't wanted to go to school. The answer had been simple. He didn't want to go because he wanted to play with Ren. Only when she would go to the academy, he would go too.

Anko and Kakashi had been lost for words. They had tried to send him again, but after a month they couldn't deny that this wasn't just a phase of him not wanting to go to school. They had seen it would have no use to send him there. Normally parents send their children to the academy when they were six or older, but it wasn't like one could send a child before or after that age. It wasn't a time of war, so they didn't need ninja's being trained fast. That was also why letting a student graduate before his twelfth or eleventh was unusual these days.

After some arguments Anko and Kakashi had decided to wait another year for Sakumo to turn 6 and for Ren to turn 5, so they could go to the academy together; hoping they had made the right decision.

The three stopped at the small playground. Kakashi let Ren and Sakumo sit on the swing for a while, before they headed back home; Kakashi reminding them the groceries didn't like the heat.

Slowly Ren's arms started to lower, causing Sakumo to carry more and more of the plastic bag, almost making him top over to the side as he tried to carry all the weight by himself.

Ren stopped, letting the plastic bag go.

"Kakashi-san?" She looked up to the silver-haired man.

Kakashi looked down to Ren as she was pulling on his pants. "Is there something, Ren-chan?"

"I'm tired. I don't think I can walk anymore. I'm sorry," she said sadly.

"That's alright." Kakashi hunched down to pick Ren up, and carried her as she held her arms around his neck, resting her head against his chest. He picked up the other bag as well, earning him a pout from Sakumo as he took the bag away from him.

"Tou-san?"

"Yes?"

"Is kaa-san already back?"

"You know she won't be back until the day after tomorrow."

Sakumo grinned. "I do."

"Then why do you ask?"

Sakumo shrugged.

Ren coughed and Sakumo looked up to her. "Can Ren-tan stay over?" he asked happily.

Ren looked up to Kakashi, her face very close to his as her big black eyes looked into small black pupils intendly and happily.

"I don't know what Naruto and Sasuke have to say about it-"

"But it's fine with you?" Sakumo asked.

"Maa, I don't mind."

"Thank you, Kakashi-san." Ren laid her head back against Kakashi's chest and hugged him, smiling.

"You don't know what your fathers will say yet."

"Papa will say it's fine," Ren said softly, thinking Sasuke was still away on his mission.

"Because it's Ren-tan!" Sakumo explained, grinning.

When they got back home, Ren had fallen asleep and Kakashi took her to Sakumo's room, to lay her down on his bed. Sakumo went playing in his room like he usually did when Ren slept.

"I will go over to Naruto and Sasuke to ask if it's okay for Ren to stay."

"Okay, tou-san."

"Ja ne."

-x-

The Hokage tower become bigger and bigger as Kakashi approached it. He was sure Naruto wouldn't object to Ren staying over -they did that more often- and he also knew he could have asked him later when he came to pick up Ren, but Kakashi didn't mind taking a small walk, having the opportunity to read his book without the children around.

It wasn't like he never read his book in front of the children, but he had just reached the good part, and he sometimes couldn't refrain himself from giggling and chuckling. Anko had once thrown his precious book into Sasuke's pond when he'd done that a bit too loudly. He still couldn't believe she had actually done that to his precious book.

After all, the kids knew he liked to read those books, and they never asked questions about it or for him to read it to them; so Kakashi didn't see the problem. And neither did Naruto as he let Kakashi just read, but Sasuke gave him that look when he held out his book in front of the kids. He didn't say anything, but his eyes kept following him around until the book was gone or out of sight.

Sakura, of course, was worse. And with her being pregnant... Kakashi sighed. He had learned to keep Sakura from seeing the books at this stage.

He entered the Hokage tower and started climbing the long staircase. On his way he saw the lovely desk lady walk past him down the stairs, and later again some ANBU as they chatted calming, obviously having finished their mission, not bothering about being seen. They greeted him and went on.

"I would sure like to know what kind of punishment he gets for this," the Tanuki-masked man asked the woman.

"You are such a pervert," she said, shaking her head.

"I don't know what _you_ are thinking about, but I meant being declined from doing missions or something," Tanuki grinned, making the woman blush. The other masked man laughed loudly.

Kakashi finally reached the office, put his orange book away, and opened the door. "Naruto I need to ask you if-" Kakashi stopped and stared at Sasuke and Naruto.

Naruto was lying on his back on the desk, his red coat loosened and his eyes closed; his ears flattened against his head (he had obviously heard Kakashi coming). His shirt was pushed up, and Sasuke was hanging over him, looking up to Kakashi. His dark eyes were staring at him as if nothing was wrong, and that what he was seeing was normal (which it was almost becoming to him, sadly enough), but something about Sasuke's features told Kakashi he was annoyed being interrupted..

"Maa, I think I'll come back later."

He was already backing away when he heard Sasuke say, "And please lock the door, Hatake."

Suddenly Sasuke was calling him Hatake. He didn't do that very often, but when he did the message sure was clear to Kakashi. Mostly it involved the unsaid text 'get lost'.

He heard Naruto slapping Sasuke on his arm. Kakashi quickly closed the door and locked it. He took out the key, just in case. They would find another way to get out of the office.

"Why did you do that?" Kakashi could hear Naruto ask as he started descending the stairs. He quickly walked on, not interested in hearing any more. He pocketed the key and decided he would go visit their house. He would give the key to Akira or lay it on the table or something.

-x-

Kakashi stood in front of the house before he walked around to the back. Akira was sitting there, watching the pond. When he noticed Kakashi he looked up, and Kakashi noticed he was feeding the fish.

"Ah, Akira-kun."

"Hello, Kakashi-san."

"Naruto is inside," Akira pointed.

"Thank you." Kakashi wondered what Naruto was doing back here so quickly. On his way over here he had thought to wait here at the house, quietly reading his book, and then see the looks on their faces when Sasuke and Naruto returned.

Kakashi stepped onto the porch into the house, to see Naruto watering the plants.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei."

"Shouldn't you be in that tower?"

"I am," Naruto smiled. "I'm just a Bunshin."

"Ah, so." Then he had no idea what his real self was doing right now. Kakashi had no idea what the clone was doing here, but Naruto probably had his reasons.

"Weren't you supposed to be watching the kids?" Naruto asked.

"Ren-chan's asleep, and they can handle themselves just fine," Kakashi answered nonchalantly.

Naruto grinned. "I keep saying the same to Sasuke."

Kakashi sat down on the couch while Naruto watered the last plants. He watched Naruto until he was done and sat down beside him on the couch.

"Aren't you overdoing it a bit with the Bunshins?" Kakashi lazily looked to the clone beside him.

"Why? I'm not using them all day every day of the week."

"No, but almost."

Naruto grinned. "Doesn't matter. I actually just came here to get some papers I'd forgotten this morning, but then I saw the plants and... well, I figured I still had some time." Naruto smiled, closing his eyes.

"Hm." Kakashi looked to Naruto, as he grabbed the aforementioned papers from the table and looked through them. "No, you're right. It might be better that you not go back yet."

"Hm?" Naruto asked questioningly, not having entirely heard what his sensei had said as his fingers rested between the papers he was holding. "You just came here to get out of the house, didn't you?"

"Maa, what I actually came over for was to ask if it's fine for Ren-chan to stay over for the night."

Naruto looked up to Kakashi. "Well, I guess that's fine. I'll get her pyjama and such then." Naruto dropped the papers back on the table as he stood up and walked away.

Kakashi patiently waited in the living room, enjoying his orange book.

Some time later (too soon in Kakashi's opinion) Naruto came back downstairs, and gave Kakashi a small backpack.

"Her medication is in the front pocket."

"Aa." Kakashi took the backpack.

Together they went outside again, said goodbye to Akira, and walked out to the street.

"Say goodnight to Ren-chan for me." Naruto said and was about to leave, but Kakashi stopped him.

"Before I forget..." Kakashi handed Naruto the key of his office. Naruto stared at it.

"What's this?" he asked, studying the key.

"You don't recognize it?" Naruto shook his head. Well, it was Naruto after all. "You'll see soon enough and figure it out."

"Okay," Naruto smiled and disappeared.

"That kid." Kakashi shook his head. He got his book out again and wandered over the street, mysteriously avoiding all people and other obstacles. He knew to evade Gai, as he got a bit too close to the energetic man, and finally came back home.

When he got there, he shook his head once more, but this time for what he found, before sneaking up to the two kids in the kitchen.

"What do you two think you're doing?" he asked.

The duo froze up and slowly turned around to face him. Two guilty faces turned to him and looked up, trying to look innocent. "Nothing?" they said together, holding something behind their backs.

"Then what are all these crumbs doing here?" Kakashi pointed to the floor. The two children followed his finger, finding the crumbs on the floor.

"Waiting to be eaten," Ren explained while she started to pick them up one by one.

"Ah." Sakumo slapped her hand as she had wanted to put the crumbs in her mouth. "That has been lying on the floor, Ren-tan!" Sakumo completely forgot to hide the cookies he was holding behind his back.

"But, Satake-"

Kakashi sighed. "Clean up the crumbs, bring the rest of the cookies back, and I won't tell your mother."

Sakumo froze and his face fell at the mention of his mother. "O-okay," he said carefully.

"Ah, my backpack," Ren pointed to the bag in Kakashi's hand. "I can stay?"

"You can."

"Yay!" Ren made a small dance with Sakumo, as he let her pull him around a circle with her. Then she walked away.

"Ren-tan! What are you doing, we have to clean th-" Ren was back with a dustbin. "Oh."

Kakashi smirked, and walked away so he could read his book once more.

Together Ren and Sakumo cleaned up the crumbs, and put the remaining cookies back in the jar.

-0-0-0-

Back in the office Sasuke and Naruto were cleaning up the mess they had made. Sasuke was just throwing some papers away while Naruto cleaned his desk, when they heard the door handle move.

Naruto didn't even bother to look up and resumed filing his papers. Sasuke, however, did look up to the door. There was a sound of a key being turned around, and then the door was opened.

Naruto stood in the door, looking in. "What have you two been doing?" he asked with some anger in his voice.

"Don't worry, nothing you didn't like," Sasuke grinned.

The Naruto next to him cleared his throat. "Ahum." He put his arms in his sides, remembering protesting a couple of times, which Sasuke had ignored.

"In the end," Sasuke added.

Naruto pointed to his desk. "And what about this?"

The Naruto next to the door gasped. "Ah, no! Not on the papers! You didn't do it on the papers?" he looked up to the real Naruto.

"We did," Sasuke said and turned to Naruto. "Can't you...?" He waved his hand to the Bunshin.

"No," Naruto told him and looked back to the clone. "You tell him what he has just done." He pointed to Sasuke.

"Do you know how much work that was?" The clone asked Sasuke angry.

"And you don't even know what he did on his mission," the real Naruto added.

"What?" The clone asked, raising his voice, and narrowing his fierce blue eyes.

"Naruto, please-"

"You are not even wearing your mask!" The clone pointed to Sasuke's face.

Sasuke sighed. "Aren't you happy I'm back?"

"I am," the Naruto next to him said, and laid his arm around his waist. He kissed him.

"Hn."

"This isn't fair! You let me do the annoying jobs, while you enjoy your time with teme!" the Bunshin protested.

"You are the same person," Sasuke told him.

"But still," the Bunshin pouted. "I'm going to disperse myself. You can clean up your own mess." He let the papers he'd brought with him fall on the desk, and stuck out his tongue to the real Naruto.

POOF, and he was gone.

Naruto let go of Sasuke. "I am still angry at you," he said and turned back to his paperwork.

Sasuke sighed. Clones…

* * *

><p>Zwhm. Thump. Zwhn. Thud. Zwhmn. Thump.<p>

"Otou-chan?"

"Hn." Sasuke looked down to Ren, as she stood fiddling with a practice kunai in her hand. Sasuke lowered his own kunai.

"When did onii-chan started practicing?"

"When he was as old as you are now."

"So I have as bit of a head start?" her eyes almost sparkled with something close to joy, and a smirk was on her face.

"If you want to call it that." Sasuke threw the kunai in his hand away.

"Oh, oh, otou-chan," Ren called out excitedly, jumping.

"Hn?" Sasuke looked down to her, next kunai already in his hand.

"You want to see who can throw fastest?"

Sasuke smiled. Ren asked this almost every practice. They would both throw a kunai or shuuriken at the same time, and Ren would try to see who's hit the target first. It was always the same; Sasuke's kunai would hit the target first, and Ren wouldn't be able to see it even though there was quite a bit of time difference.

Sasuke gripped the kunai more securely in his hand, and went to stand in an obvious throwing stance he would never use in a real battle, but was excellent for teaching the throwing technique.

Ren smiled and got her own kunai ready, taking her own stance.

"San, ni, ichi."

Both threw the kunai, and Ren took a step forward excitedly to try and see better, giggling.

Suddenly she stopped. "N-nani?"

Sasuke looked down to his daughter to see why she was so taken aback. She never won, and she knew that. It had never disappointed her. Not once.

"Ren, you-"

"It looked different."

"What?" Sasuke asked confused.

Suddenly Ren started coughing and fell on her knees.

"Ren?" Sasuke kneeled down next to her, as her hand covered her eyes.

"It hurts. Otou-chan it hurts!" Ren cried.

"What is it, Ren?" Sasuke asked concerned. He took away her hand, and took in a sharp breath. "Come, don't worry. Everything is fine." He tried to comfort her, stroking his hand through her blonde mane. He lifted her up and went into the house. He felt tears falling on his shirt.

"Itai. Itai, itai," Ren cried, gripping his shirt and pulling herself closer to his chest. "Tou-chan."

Sasuke rubbed her back, and pressed her a bit closer to his chest as well. "It's alright," he told her.

He walked around the house with her, trying to calm her down. "Shhh." He kept rubbing her back.

When she finally stopped calling in pain and her breathing had calmed down, he laid her on the couch. Ren slowly let herself be guided to lie down, softly whimpering as her breathing evened out.

Sasuke didn't like what he saw; not tears had been falling from her eyes, but blood. The front of his white shirt was red and red streaks of drying blood were left on Ren's cheeks.

"Shhh," he said once more, covering her with her bunny blanket. Ren fell asleep.

"That's _not_ good."

-x-

"Otou… chan?" Ren slowly woke up and sat upright. Someone was sitting close to her, but it was dark; she couldn't see him.

"Otou-chan?" she called again, slowly feeling around.

"Are you feeling better?" a voice came to her ears.

Ren touched her eyes and felt something soft wrapped around her head.

"You said it hurt. I bandaged your eyes, so they could rest." Sasuke laid his hand on her small shoulder. "Do your eyes still hurt?" he asked kindly.

Ren shook her head. "No. Can you take it off?" She wobbled a bit because she had no reverence points to look at for her balance.

Sasuke carefully smiled, stroking her cheek. "Rest your eyes a bit more. Think of it as training your hearing."

"I can already hear more than you!" Then Ren bit her lip and shivered. "It's cold."

Sasuke felt her forehead. She indeed had a small fever. As if to confirm she wasn't feeling well, Ren coughed.

"You want some fruit? I got some apple pieces for you." Sasuke reached to a small bowl that was standing on the table.

Ren smiled carefully and held out her hand. Sasuke handed her a slice and ate one himself.

"What were you… doing?" Ren asked as she held half of the piece of fruit in her hand.

"Peeling the apples," Sasuke answered.

"And before?"

"I read a bit." Sasuke looked down to his little girl as he sat leaning against the couch.

Ren bowed her head, and Sasuke grabbed her chin. "Why the long face?"

"You… you were worried, weren't you?"

"Of course I was w-"

"I'm sorry… I'm always making you worry."

"Ren." Ren sniffed and bit her lip. "I worry all the time about you." Ren wanted to lower her head again, but Sasuke held it up. "That's what a father does… well I do at least, Naruto says I overdo it a bit." He could already hear Naruto's voice in his head saying, '_and you say I'm__ the mother in the family…'_

Ren lifted her head a little bit. "But I worry about Akira too; even a little bit about Naruto," Sasuke told her.

"Really?" Ren asked relieved.

"Yes. I want you all to be safe. You mean a lot to me… you mean everything to me. I love you all."

Ren smiled and searched for Sasuke's hand, gripping it.

"Then I worry about you too, _and_ about onii-chan and papa."

Sasuke smiled. "You see."

"More apple!" she screamed into his ear.

-x-

Naruto sighed as he got home, closing the door behind him, and sitting down on the stairs so he could pull off his sandals.

Those annoying forms; reading, stamp, reading, stamp… he hated reading this much, but he'd always wanted to become Hokage, and he didn't regret it one bit.

He stood up, walking into the living room. Ren was sleeping on the couch, bunny-blanket lying over her still, small form, and her eyes bandaged.

Naruto smiled at the sight, and walked to the table. Suddenly he stopped. Her eyes bandaged?

He looked back over to Ren and saw that what he'd seen before was right.

"Sasuke?" he slowly asked, and Sasuke looked up from his book, still leaning against the couch. "Why is our daughter's head bandaged?"

Sasuke sighed, but not in an annoyed way; it was an I'm-going-to-be-serious-so-you-better-listen-carefully sigh.

Naruto sat down and gave Sasuke a concerned look as he glanced to Ren. "So?" he asked.

"We were doing some kunai practice." Naruto stiffed, thinking of all the injuries that could happen to a young girl while practicing with kunai. Even though they were practice kunai, they were still sharp, and a lot could go wrong (he knew from experience).

"She still got her eyes," Sasuke assured him, but Naruto was still concerned, wanting Sasuke to hurry up with his explanation. He could take so long to say something very important; it was almost like he did that on purpose. It sounded like he talked so slow, while in reality it was just calm, but Naruto couldn't see that right now. He bit the inside of his cheek as not to say anything about it.

"She wanted to see who could throw fastest again." Naruto nodded. "When she told me they went slow."

"They went slow?" Naruto repeated confused.

"Yes, slow."

Naruto waited for the rest, but Sasuke kept silent.

"So the kunai went slow?" Sasuke still didn't respond. "What? Then what happened?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"Her eyes, they were…" Sasuke's voice died down.

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. "Tell me Sasuke; what did you see?"

"Sharingan," Sasuke said calmly, looking seriously to Naruto, waiting for his response.

"Huh?" Naruto gave him a confused look.

"She had a Sharingan, but it looked slightly different." Naruto didn't know how to react. "It had one tomoe, but her pupil… it was oval."

"Hè?" Naruto stared at Sasuke. He mentally grasped all his coherent thoughts together, making him able to ask, "But why is she bandaged up then? Isn't that… a good thing?"

Sasuke slowly shook his head, closing his eyes as he did so. "She began coughing and said that it hurt. Her eyes were bleeding."

"_What_?" Naruto almost yelled, wanting to stand up.

"Shh, quiet down." Sasuke pushed Naruto back to the ground. He looked over to Ren, as did Naruto. She stirred and let out a sigh, but she didn't woke up.

"What now? Why… why was that happening?" Naruto whispered.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shook his head. "But you're the Sharingan-man." Naruto said almost desperately.

"I'm not a Sharingan-man," Sasuke told him with a twitching eyebrow; like that was even a word…

"Not 'a', 'the'." Naruto told him. "You're the Uchiha," he then clarified as Sasuke's eyebrow kept twitching.

Well, Sasuke couldn't deny that. "I'll take her to Tsunade tomorrow," he told Naruto.

"Tomorrow?" Naruto asked with a bit too much concern and anger than necessary. "Why not-"

"Yes, I don't think she would want to go right now; you know how she is," Sasuke said, cutting Naruto off.

Naruto closed his mouth, thinking. "Hm." Naruto saw what he meant. Ren didn't like hospitals, not if she was the one being examined. Walking around through the hospital with Tsunade or Sakura was fine, as long as she didn't need to lie down on the bed or table herself.

This was probably due to her many hospital visits; especially when she was younger. Being ill so often they took her there for tests, but no one could tell what was exactly wrong with her.

Last time, when they found out about her ears growing fur, she had freaked out, and had made a scene when they had just wanted to see her ears a little closer. Only when Sakura had come to their house the next day, and had started casually talking to Ren, she had eventually made Ren show her ears again as her hands had been covering them all day.

"You think it is something serious?" Naruto asked concerned, back to parenting-mode.

"I really don't know." Sasuke really didn't, and Naruto didn't like that.

"But you said they were bleeding-" he tried.

"It's not too uncommon… It's probably nothing." Even though Sasuke said that, Naruto saw that was not what he was really thinking. He was trying to comfort not only Naruto, but himself as well. Naruto could almost hear Sasuke think; _why had it hurt her?_

-x-

Akira sat at the table, eating his bowl of rice with his chopsticks while he was looking at Ren. She was trying to eat the rice herself, while her eyes were still bandaged. She had refused help; first from Naruto, and then later again from Sasuke. However, the bowl wasn't as filled anymore as before, and she had trouble to get some rice on her chopsticks.

"Ren," Akira finally said, unable to not help her. He'd finished his own bowl, and took some rice from Ren on his own chopsticks.

"Onii-chan?" Ren asked in response.

"Open your mouth."

Ren stayed sitting silently for a moment, before she opened her mouth. Akira gave her the rice, and she didn't protested, letting her brother feed her.

Sasuke and Naruto both looked with pursed lips. She had refused their help, but not Akira's.

"Does it still hurt, Ren?" Akira asked, holding the chopsticks in front of her mouth.

Ren took the bait. She waited to answer till her mouth was empty (Sasuke had tough her not to speak with her mouth full, and was relieved she did so, even though Naruto didn't always gave the proper example).

"Not really." She brought her hand up to the bandages. "Sometimes a little." When Naruto and Sasuke had asked her how she felt, all she'd said was that she was fine.

Akira petted her hair, smiling. Ren just sat there, chewing her food. "It will be alright," Akira told her. "You're strong."

"I'm not." Ren told him, looking in his direction. "I can't even lift my box of toys, but you can."

Akira smiled. "I meant you can handle a lot."

"Handle." Ren didn't understand, tilting her head.

"If you're finished Ren-chan, you should probably lie down." Naruto took her bowl and walked away after he had taken all bowls from the table.

"But I don't want to lie down." She stood up and almost fell over as she was still imbalanced. Akira quickly caught her.

"Let's go upstairs and go to bed early. I have training early in the morning." Akira looked down to Ren.

Ren nodded and climbed up Akira's back so he could take her upstairs.

"I'm so glad Akira-kun is so nice to her, even though he'd wanted a little brother," Naruto smiled as he and Sasuke were doing the dishes sometime later.

"He probably sees her a little bit as a little brother though." Sasuke gave Naruto a clean bowl.

Naruto took it and dried it. "Well, what can you expect? She just had to turn out to be at least a little boyish."

"The only reason she isn't completely boyish is probably because of Tsunade watching over her, and because of her visits to Sakura."

Naruto grinned. "Yeah, Anko isn't really a great example, she can be so..." Naruto chuckled as he thought of something. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Anko sure looked feminine, but she indeed could act much like a boy, especially in the eyes of a child.

"She isn't even at an age yet to fully understand the difference between boys and girls anyway," Sasuke told Naruto.

"Hm. Well, it's not that weird she doesn't understand the difference." Naruto agreed, taking the cup Sasuke gave him. "I still don't understand-" Sasuke looked up to Naruto while his eyebrow rose, Naruto saw this. "Women, I wanted to say I still don't understand women."

"Sure. Because I can tell you the difference between men and women upstairs, if you like," Sasuke smirked, earning him a shove against his shoulder.

"The kids are trying to sleep," Naruto whispered.

"I can be quiet if I have to."

"Ha!" Naruto walked away to put the cup in a cupboard.

"You don't believe me?" Sasuke walked up behind Naruto and smirked. "I can also show you here-"

"Sasuke!" Naruto hit him with the towel, as he felt hands on his ass. "Stop it!"

-x-

Naruto felt some shivering behind him, and heard teeth chattering, so he turned around. "Are you that cold?" he reached for Sasuke, but instead found a smaller person. "Ren-chan?"

Sasuke had woken up as well now, and looked over to Ren. "Are you alright?"

Ren kept shivering and sobbed softly. "It's so cold," she said in a small voice.

She was lying between Naruto and Sasuke, facing Sasuke. Naruto folded his arms around her and pulled her against his warm chest. "That better?"

Ren kept shivering and sniffled again. "I don't feel so good." She looked up to Sasuke. Apparently she had removed the bandages covering her eyes by herself.

Sasuke reached forward to her small face, wiping her tears away. "You don't have to cry for that."

"But it hurts, and it's cold, and-" she sniffled again, closing her eyes. She gripped Sasuke's hand and laid it over her eyes.

Sasuke didn't know what to do about it and looked up to Naruto, who held the same concerned look as he probably had.

"Your eyes still hurt?" he asked after a while.

"Yes, and I don't feel so good."

"Like when you are ill?"

"No, a different I-don't-feel-so-good," she said softly. She'd stopped chattering her teeth now, but she was still shivering.

"Can you explain?" Sasuke asked softly, his hand still covering her eyes, because Ren was still holding his hand there.

She shook her head. "It hurts, but it doesn't. It's everywhere." She gripped his hand a bit tighter. "But tou-chan's hand helps." She shivered. "And papa feels good."

Sasuke moved a little closer to her, and stroked her hair with his other hand. "It's okay, just try to sleep."

Ren nodded.

Sasuke looked to Naruto again, and Naruto was looking back, seeing more than Sasuke could see in the dark. Naruto reached his hand to him, and covered his eyes for a moment, and then pulled his hand back, folding it around Ren once more. Sasuke understood, as he had been thinking the same. He activated his Sharingan, and was actually surprised by what he saw.

His own arms were a tiny bit lavender coloured, ever so slightly, like usual when he was resting. Naruto was a brighter orange, almost glowing. Naruto always had more 'waste' chakra because he had so much, so he always seemed to radiate a little, unable not to do so in a resting position. Only on the field he would suppress it, but on normal days it had no use for him to suppress his chakra all the time, and was way too much trouble for him.

However, those things were not what surprised him. He'd actually never really seen Ren's chakra. Children had no control over it yet, and only used it once in a while, mostly unconsciously. Besides that they didn't really have a lot of chakra to use yet, but Ren's chakra was clear now, very clear.

In front of Naruto's orange Sasuke saw a big black spot. It was even darker than the surroundings; the rest of the room. She really had black chakra, and it seemed to try and balance itself inside her body, but it was still chaotically moving around. Only there where Naruto and he were touching her, the chakra seemed alright, and was slowly balancing the rest of her chakra.

So when she'd said their touches felt good, it really was because it was making her better.

"Sasuke?" Naruto softly asked, and Sasuke came to understand he'd been quiet for quite some time. Plus he had almost gasped at what he had seen. Ren had fallen asleep, and that was the reason Naruto had spoken up. "What do you see?" he asked.

Sasuke looked up to Naruto. "It's probably worse than we thought."

-oXo-


	17. Chapter 17: Uchiha or Uzumaki?

**Chapter 17: Four years later Part IV – Uchiha or Uzumaki?**  
><em>30<em>_th__ of September_

Sasuke was sitting on the couch next to Naruto, who tried to watch the television.

"Ouch, watch it tou-chan." Akira pulled back his hand from Sasuke's loose grip.

"You asked me to bandage it, and you know the wound has to be disinfected," Sasuke told the boy.

"But not-"

"I'm trying to watch this," Naruto told them, not taking his eyes of the black box.

"No you're not," Akira told him, which made Naruto look at him, raising his eyebrows. "You don't even know what it's about."

"I do."

"Then what?" Akira gave his hand back to Sasuke, so he could proceed the treatment.

"Well, about," Naruto wanted to look back to the television, but Akira sniffed and Naruto didn't turn away. "About a man… who…"

"You don't know," Akira told him.

"Oh, alright, I wasn't really watching." Naruto crossed his arms and lowered into the couch. "I just wanted some rest."

"I'm sorry I got hurt during training."

Naruto sighed. "It's not your fault," he muttered.

"No, it was Hikaru, trying to be funny." Akira shook his head. "One day…"

Sasuke glanced up to his son before finishing bandaging his hand. He had a hard time not saying anything, Naruto could tell. Akira inspected his hand before he was satisfied.

"Tou-chan, would you help me?" Akira waved to the garden, and Sasuke followed his pointing. He nodded and stood up, following the boy outside.

Naruto followed them with narrowed eyes until the door was closed behind Sasuke; his eyes went back to the television. He sighed and grasped for the remote, turning the television off.

"Hm," he grumbled, letting himself fall on his side on the couch. However, this wasn't a good lying position, so he moved, shuffled and took some annoyed breaths.

So when a couple of minutes later Ren entered the room, with a small stone in her hand, she found Naruto upside down on the couch. His head was almost touching the floor (his ears did, moving back and forth), his legs over the back of the couch, and his tail hanging beside him.

"What are you doing, papa?" Ren asked, turning her head almost upside down to watch Naruto in the eyes.

"Not sure yet," Naruto told her.

Ren laid the stone she was holding on the table and climbed up the couch, lying down beside him. As small as she still was, her head barely even reached the edge of the couch, so she had to move to be able to hang her head beside Naruto's.

"And, what do you think?" Naruto asked, glancing at the small blonde beside him.

"I'm not sure yet," she answered. She shuffled some more until she was comfortable, and lay still for quite some time. Naruto just watched her as she stared at the ceiling.

Slowly he moved his hand up, barely touching Ren's face. When he did, she smiled for a moment, but otherwise didn't let notice she had felt it. He stroked her cheek, being able to cover her entire cheek with his hand, even touching her ear ever so slightly.

It was soft, and unconsciously he began stroking it, looking up to the ceiling too.

"Papa?"

"Hm?"

"What is it like?"

"To be what?" Naruto asked.

"To be…" Ren stopped talking. Much like Sasuke, who could talk calmly, even slowly in Naruto's opinion, Ren was trying to master this technique too. She was good in observing, and had soon noticed how Sasuke's talking could have special effects on people… on almost all people, one way or the other. Most were charmed by it, and so Ren had seen wonderful use to master the technique too.

Naruto turned his head to his daughter. "To be…" he repeated, still fiddling with her ear.

"To be old?" she asked.

Naruto stopped fiddling and kept staring at her, not believing what she had asked.

"You think I'm old?"

Ren moved her head to the side, to look at Naruto. "Hn."

"Stop trying to copy Sasuke," Naruto told her, not amused for being called old on his young age. 28 years old, and having achieved what he had on that age, did not make him old at all!

"You're not old." It wasn't a question, neither a statement.

"If I'm old, then what do you think of Kakashi, or Tsunade? She must be a mummy."

"Mummy? Is that like a mommy?"

"No, a mummy is- Don't change the subject."

"I didn't. You did." Ren smiled.

"Hmpf." Naruto closed his eyes for a moment. "You really think I'm old?" he asked, almost sadly.

"No, but you are older than me. So you are old."

"That's your conclusion?" Naruto thought this over for a while.

When he looked back to Ren, he saw she had closed her eyes and was humming. Slowly he reached for her ear again. "I wonder what Sasuke would say if you called him old."

"Tou-chan can handle it."

"Of course, he has too. Sasuke wouldn't lose control over something like that."

"Are you sad?" she suddenly asked in a small voice.

"A little, yes."

Ren immediately turned on her side, and hugged Naruto. "I'm sorry, don't be sad."

"I don't know," Naruto said as if he was thinking her apology over. He hugged her back nonetheless.

"No, I'm sorry."

Naruto started laughing. "Okay, it's okay."

"You were not sad at all?" Ren asked, lying on top of Naruto, looking down at him.

"Just don't call me old again."

"Okay. You are very young, papa."

Naruto grinned. "That sounds a lot better."

"But I'm younger."

"Yes, you are."

"A lot."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, growling ever so softly.

Ren began giggling, and rolled off Naruto, lying beside him once more. "Which makes you older."

-x-

Sasuke had helped Akira with some training, telling him his fireball jutsu was improving. Akira proudly stepped onto the porch, not even thinking of showing how exhausted he was; him almost falling over didn't really help keeping his mask up.

Sasuke smiled and gripped the boy's arm, slowly letting him down to sit on the porch.

"So how was today's training?" Sasuke asked, looking into the garden.

Akira glanced up to his father, glad he was asking this. "More or less the same as usual," he answered. "Except… Hikaru was _really_ able to pull sensei's hair this time. I was surprised."

"Hm," Sasuke agreed.

"Maybe the distraction really worked," Akira said pensively, thinking it over. He put his hand on his chin. "Ouch." Quickly he pulled his injured hand back, waving it up and down, hissing.

"Be careful, it doesn't heal as fast as other wounds." Sasuke looked down to the boy.

"I know." Akira held his bandaged hand against his chest. "Why Hikaru had to use a poisoned kunai is beyond me."

"Luckily it wasn't a deadly poison," Sasuke growled.

"Or you would have killed him?" Akira finished Sasuke's thoughts. "Tou-chan," Akira hit Sasuke's arm, "you know you couldn't have done that. You would have made Hikaru's mother very unhappy. And she is not nice when she's unhappy. Not nice at all." Akira smirked at Sasuke. "I think not even you could take her on."

Sasuke narrowed his already narrow eyes even further. "You think so?"

"I know so," Akira said resolutely. "You are very, _very_ scary when angry, but…" Akira peered up, wondering what his words had done to his father. Sasuke was just studying him, waiting for him to finish his answer. "But as Sakura so correctly told me," Akira proceeded, already seeing the slightest changes in his father's face. He was probably thinking '_of course, Sakura_'. "And I know she's very right about it; Hikaru would certainly agree. He really is afraid of his mother."

Akira turned a quarter to Sasuke, facing him more directly. "One time he got home a little late from practice, and she hit him with the frying-pan-" Sasuke cleared his throat. Akira stopped his side story.

He looked at Sasuke, wondering why he was so annoyed. "What?"

"I would lose because…?"

"Oh, right." Akira smirked once more. "A woman scorned…"

"I never scorned her."

"You would have killed her only son."

"I would have done her a favour."

"Ah." Akira hit Sasuke's arm once more, but this time he saw the smile that followed. "Even if she wasn't scorned," Akira said, lowering his hand.

"Hm?" Sasuke's smirk slowly disappeared into something vaguely close to curiosity.

"Mothers can be very scary."

"Okaa-san too?" Sasuke asked, waiting for the answer. He didn't need to wait long.

"Of course!" Akira folded his arms over his chest. "She was always very kind to me, and loved me, but one time…" Akira shuddered. "I can't even tell." Sasuke was seriously surprised by Akira's reaction.

"Really? What did you do?" he asked, smiling.

Akira looked up angrily. "You were never scared of your mother?"

"No."

This time Akira was surprised. "Really? Never?"

"No."

"I… _really_?" Akira just couldn't believe it.

"No, never."

"Hm, strange… then perhaps you can win," Akira said thoughtfully.

"Let's go inside before you hurt your brain over something unreal." Sasuke ruffled Akira's hair, making it look quite messy.

"Ah, tou-chan!" He pushed Sasuke's hand away and stood up, still fending off Sasuke's hand as they walked into the house.

When Sasuke suddenly stopped, dropping his hand, Akira looked up to see what was wrong.

On the couch lay both blonds, still upside down, though slightly lopsided in Naruto's case, sleeping and both softly purring.

"They are both purring," Akira whispered. "You hear that?"

Sasuke nodded, amazed by the sound coming from the small blonde (the smallest actually, they were both small next to Sasuke).

Akira gave a sigh of relief. "Ah, now I don't need to pretend it's still a secret. This feels better now that you officially know." He turned away before Sasuke could say anything, and walked up the stairs to his room.

Still slightly perplexed, Sasuke stared at his two blonds.

After a while he decided to just sit down, and enjoy the sweet sounds of his family being happy. They sounded so careless, like nothing was wrong, like everything was perfect… and it was. It really was.

* * *

><p>Sakura was sitting behind the low table and Mimi, a Hyuuga medic, was standing beside her. They were both looking at the child in front of them as she played with Sakumo. Sasuke sat at the table with Sakura, and was sitting so he could watch either the children or Sakura.<p>

After about fifteen minutes Mimi sat down, and began writing some things down in a notebook. When she finished writing she looked up to Sasuke and nodded.

"Ren, Sakumo, why don't you two go play outside; the weather is very nice." Two pair of eyes looked at him, one almost completely filled with black, the other with hazel brown.

"Okay, otou-chan."

"Let's climb up the tree!" Sakumo told her, and they were gone.

Sasuke turned his look back to the two women in his house.

"She indeed has black chakra, I have never seen anything like it," Mimi spoke. Sakura and Sasuke nodded. "But it is very much in balance, so there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it right now."

"What do you mean right now?" Sakura asked.

"When she was closer to Sasuke-san, her chakra became slightly more stable than when she was around you or Sakumo-kun."

"And when Naruto was still here?" Sasuke asked. Naruto had stayed for a moment before he had to go to his tower.

"It feels like her and Naruto-sama's chakras are more harmonized together. Somehow they are more similar in structure. It's probably because of the Kyuubi inside Naruto-sama. Naruto-sama's chakra is very special and unique in every way, because of his fusion with the fox demon." Mimi fiddled with her notebook before proceeding, looking up to Sasuke.

"And, I-" She hesitated for a moment. "I'm sorry to say it like this, but when I remember Sasuke-sama using his Susano'o when he'd just returned to the village-"

She waited again, looking a bit afraid, but Sasuke wasn't angry with her so she finally dared to continue. "Your chakra was a bit different then that it is now. It was more... filled with hate."

Sasuke nodded. He had still been mad with Madara back then, and also a bit about the truth about Itachi. He had been very angry with the elders as well, but he knew he had to respect Itachi's wishes. Still he had been filled with hate when he'd returned, especially when some ninja's began attacking him while he was surrendering himself.

"And?" Sakura asked, urging Mimi to go on.

"His... your chakra was slightly, ehm... demonic then. I'm sorry, I have no other explanation." She bowed in apology.

"Yes, I know, what's your point?" Sasuke told her.

"Sumimasen." Mimi said almost nervously, "Her chakra also has something similar to that... to your chakra from then. It's not filled with hate, not from her, but it feels similar. It's dark and almost... evil." Mimi shivered unable to control herself. "Her chakra doesn't fit her at all," she quickly continued before Sasuke could get angry or something. "I think that's the reason of her illness. She cannot control this chakra."

"So you say that's probably why she sleeps so much, and why she is ill all the time," Sakura said, "because her chakra is making her ill, so to speak. And as she is growing and becoming older, her chakra is developing as well, her reserves becoming bigger and producing more chakra."

"Yes, Sakura-san."

"This is not good." Sakura stroked her round belly unconsciously.

Sasuke had no words. How could one not control his own chakra? He'd never heard of anything like that. Not being able to control chakra of something else was different, like Naruto with Kyuubi when he was younger, but your own chakra? It was like Ren's body was turning against her.

"So I should try to teach her to control her chakra." Sasuke looked over to the tree outside, where Ren and Sakumo were laughing as they were hanging upside down on a branch.

"Yes, I would suggest that. I have no idea what else you can do about it. It's very unusual for someone to not be able to control her own chakra like this."

"Thank you for your analysis, Mimi-san," Sakura said.

Mimi nodded and stood up. "If you will excuse me, I have a shift in a couple of minutes."

"Thank you. Bye."

Sakura turned back to Sasuke, and saw him looking outside with a dark look on his face. Sakura reached forward, and laid her hand on his. He looked back to her at the touch.

"Don't worry Sasuke. We will find a way to help her."

Sasuke sighed. "I'm glad we now know what is causing all this."

Sakura nodded.

Silence fell as they both watched the kids while they still hung upside down.

"Could it be..." Sasuke looked back to Sakura, and she looked up to him, both her hands on her belly now. "Could it also be the reason it hurt her eyes when she used the Sharingan?"

Sakura had been quite shocked to hear she'd activated it, and even more that it had hurt her so much.

"Yes, I think when she was able to use her Sharingan it needed chakra. Seeing using the chakra does her no good… it probably was the cause of her illness of last week. Perhaps using the chakra hurts as well, besides it being unbalanced."

"Almost as if it's poisoning her. Using the Sharingan takes a lot of chakra, especially when being so young," Sasuke nodded understandingly. "I was afraid so."

Suddenly Sakura smiled, and Sasuke looked up almost questioningly. "She really looks after you both, doesn't she? Even the structure of her chakra; although it seems completely different at first glance... when you analyse it... it's a mix of the two of you."

Sasuke didn't say anything. The chakra looked like the worse inside him and Naruto instead of the good in them, if you could call it that.

"Sasuke, I know you don't like it that she is ill so often, but don't try to worry too much; it makes Ren wants to hide everything all the more."

This information hit Sasuke harder than either Sakura had intended or Sasuke could have thought any information could do to him this morning.

"I'm sorry."

Sakura's eyes widened when she heard Sasuke apologize. "Sasuke?" He didn't respond.

"You just want the best for her, it's normal, Sasuke." Sakura rubbed her belly.

After a while Ren and Sakumo came inside again, both panting.

"But it looks nice. It's funny that it stays like that, even when you hang upside down," Ren told Sakumo as they walked to the table, and stroked his hair. She needed to stand on her toes to be able to do that.

"I don't know," Sakumo said, patting her hand away. "Is it tea time yet?" he asked Sasuke and Sakura.

Sasuke stood up to make some.

"Oba-san," Ren sat down beside Sakura and laid her hands on her stomach. "She has grown."

Sakura smiled and stroked Ren's spikes. "She has."

"She probably will be bigger than Ren," Ren said sadly.

"Not for quite a while, so don't worry."

"But she is growing so fast. I'm not."

"You have grown," Sakumo said. "Till here." He pointed to somewhere on his chin to where Ren came.

"But that is where I always reach," Ren told him.

"But I've grown, so you have too."

This information cheered Ren up, and she let go of Sakura and shuffled over to Sakumo. "You're my best friend, Satake," she told him, and she gave him a hug. "I like you."

Sakumo smiled. "I like you too."

Ren stayed hugging Sakumo, so he had to take her off by himself. He started pushing Ren away, but she didn't let go.

Sasuke came back with the tea. He put it on the table and watched the two struggle.

"Ren-tan!" Sakumo muttered.

Finally Ren let go, and yawned. "I'm tired."

* * *

><p>"So what does that mean?" Ren asked, sitting in between Naruto and Sasuke on their porch.<p>

"That we will make you aware of your chakra system and how to use it, to store it away, bring it forth, and most importantly manipulate it."

Ren looked up confused to Sasuke. She blinked a couple of times before she turned her head to Naruto.

"What Sasuke means is that we will teach you a few simple jutsu to make you aware of what chakra is, and help you control it. It's like teaching a little kitty to go to the litter box."

"Really? You will teach me?" she asked excitedly.

Sasuke frowned at Naruto and Ren. Why could she understand something like that (something Sasuke saw no relation between), but not his explaining words?

"Yes, we will train you. Mostly Sasuke probably, my chakra control is not that great either," Naruto laughed uncomfortably.

"Oh?"

"Luckily you look a lot like Sasuke when it comes to practice."

Ren turned her head back to Sasuke. "When do we start?" she asked excitedly. She stood up, laying her hands on Sasuke's shoulder, and started jumping up and down. "I want to make a Bunshin like-"

"No." Sasuke efficiently cut down Ren's excitement.

Ren stopped jumping, and her lower lip started quivering. "I want…" She looked around to Naruto. "Like papa…"

"No Bunshin, that's way too difficult."

Ren turned back to Sasuke. "But…"

"No. Not even Naruto can make a decent clone."

Ren's face dropped. "Papa can make a lot of clones."

"Clones, yes, Kage Bunshins, but not normal Bunshins."

Ren turned back to Naruto, who gave her a sheepish look. "Haha, quite true. I wouldn't recommend starting with the Bunshin."

"Oh. But then something else that's cool," she turned to Sasuke once more, "like otou-chan's-"

"No Ren, we will not be teaching you any 'cool' jutsu. Jutsu are not supposed to be cool. They are used in a fight, and not to impress. You need to be careful-"

"Boring!" Ren turned back to Naruto. "Papa, will you teach me?"

Naruto smiled, and hardly could keep his laugh when he saw Sasuke's angry and slightly disappointed look. "No, Ren, Sasuke is right. We need to begin with the basics, like everyone else."

Ren sighed. "I just thought-" She ended in a small voice, looking down to her toes. She started rocking a little, and she even sniffed a little.

"Ren, once you know the basics, the better part of training can start," Sasuke tried to cheer her up.

"You mean it?" It had worked, Ren was smiling again.

"Good ninja know their basics." Sasuke glanced over to Naruto, who narrowed his eyes at the meaningful look he got.

"When will we start?"

"Soon."

"How soon?"

"Soon," Sasuke repeated.

"How soon is soon?"

Sasuke sighed. Sometimes she just looked a little too much like Naruto.

"Right about now." Sasuke and Ren looked over to Naruto. "Ne, Sasuke?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Yes, now is fine."

"Then why did you say soon?" Ren asked, trying to be smart.

"Now is soon, right?"

Ren tilted her head. "I guess… so…" Luckily for Sasuke she wasn't quite on his level yet.

"Will papa stay?"

"No, papa needs to go do important business in the tower of boredom."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ren said sadly. Naruto smiled.

"That's why I'm needed, to make things fun again." He grinned.

"It's your job to take care of this village, Naruto, not make things fun."

"But I like to combine the two," Naruto still grinned.

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I remember you like to help me with that every so often." Naruto wagged his eyebrows.

Ren didn't understand what was going on. "Otou-chan does?"

"Ah, yes," Naruto nodded.

"What does he do then?"

Now Sasuke seemed curious too. How would Naruto answer this?

"Well, he likes to play with me on the desk, for example."

Sasuke stared at Naruto, not believing he had said that.

"Oh? What do you do then? Make a drawing? Can I-?"

"Let's get to training," Sasuke interrupted, standing up and walking into the garden.

Ren tilted her head once more before she realized what he had just said. "Yeah!" She ran after Sasuke.

Naruto shook his head, standing up as well. "Need to make fun at the office."

"Bye, papa!" Ren came running back, hugging his leg. She didn't even have the time to kiss him, before she happily ran back to Sasuke. "Otou-chan!" The prospect of training was too exciting.

"Hmm," Naruto muttered before he turned around. He hadn't even made a complete turn when he had already vanished.

"Otou-chan? Otou-chan?" Ren asked, pulling Sasuke's pants while trying to keep up with him.

Sasuke stopped walking, and sat down between the long grass. "Sit down."

Ren did so, copying Sasuke, sitting completely still.

"First I'm going to explain you something. We cannot perform jutsu or try to feel chakra while you don't even know what it is." He took out a scroll and started explaining. Ren silently listened to everything Sasuke had to say.

Sasuke was relieved that as excited as she could be, she could still be serious and listen too. A combination Naruto had lacked when he was young (and maybe still did). Sasuke smiled.

-x-

When Akira got home, he found a very empty and silent room. No one was around, even though he knew Sasuke and Ren should be at home. Perhaps they had gone to the park or something.

Not that he cared, at least now he could move around without Ren asking him how his training had been. He was tired, and right now he didn't need a little sister excitedly running around him.

He took something to drink and an apple before he sat down on the couch. He stretched out his legs, and laid them on the table. If no one was around… He smiled.

Leaning back into the couch he ate his apple. Today he had been training with another team. Both his own teammates had not been able to come to training, and his sensei had told him he could go train with team 20. His sensei could be so… uncaring sometimes, almost lazy.

However, Akira had been having a great time training with team 20, which had as many as two medic ninja's. Of course he knew his fellow peers quite well, seeing them in medic class very often. Their sensei was so different from his own sensei. She was so much more open, and had been keeping a very close eye on them during their training. Akira's sensei wouldn't mind doing so.

It wasn't as if he didn't like his sensei, on the contrary, his sensei was a good sensei and knew a lot. He just lacked the how-to-be-around-other-people-skills a little bit.

Akira sighed. He was already getting bored. Perhaps he should do some homework; proceed his research about the effect of genjutsu mixed with poison.

This simple thought made him smile. He quickly stood up, threw the apple core away, and went upstairs to get his books. Back in the living room he carefully placed the books on the low, round table. Every book had its own position, which had been carefully thought over. Now all he needed was some self-made tea.

Anko had taught Akira all about tea ceremonies, how to make different tastes, and how to appreciate your tea to the fullest. Walking outside into the direction of the vegetable garden, Akira was already thinking of which herbs to use. Should he try something new?

No, that would take too long, he wanted to get along with his research; he knew he was onto something.

Standing in the vegetable garden, he looked around between the vegetables, locating all the herbs between them. Finding the right plants, he hunched down and carefully picked some of the leaves and flowers.

Happily humming to himself he went back inside, made his tea, and sat down at the table. His right hand moved over the cover of some old, dusty book. No one had used it for over ten years according to the lending information inside the book.

It was a waste, a sin, that no one had seen the value of this book in such a long time period. It might be old, but the information inside could still be used; and to good purpose too! Fideaki-san had done a good job at collecting information about the use of genjutsu on oneself. Okay, so the sentences he wrote were absurdly long, and often didn't even say a lot. It might be a little bit boring to read, but you just needed to see what was essential and what made his work worthwhile. There was so much hidden information between the lines, which could tell you so much. It made Akira so happy to be able to see such information. It was like using the Sharingan without using it. He could see things other people couldn't.

Slowly he opened the book, careful not to tear the yellow paper. He sniffed the air as some old smell rose from the old pages. A shiver ran down his spine.

"Okay, let's do this!" Akira sat up straight, collected some paper and a pen, and started reading.

-x-

Sasuke watched Ren through his red eyes. She was sitting very still, sweat on her forehead. A droplet was slowly sliding down her nose, dangling on the end before falling down.

She was sitting Indian style, and her hands were folded together, two fingers (index and middle) pointing up, while the fingers of her other hand were wrapped around the other fingers.

"Hmmm." She let her hands fall into her lap, and took a deep breath. "I still don't get it," she said sadly.

"Don't worry, it will come," Sasuke assured her. "No one can do this at their first day."

"I'm tired," she said, falling down on her back.

"Let's go inside, and eat something. Then you can take a nap."

Ren nodded. She held out her hand to Sasuke. "Will you carry me?"

Sasuke smiled, and picked her up. "You did fine today."

"Will we practice tomorrow again?" Ren asked, folding her arms around Sasuke's neck.

"No, I have a mission tomorrow."

"When you come back?" Ren asked hopefully.

"The mission might take a few days; it's out of the village."

Ren pouted, and Sasuke knew she did even without seeing her do it. "Perhaps Naruto can help you, or even Akira, he has good chakra control too."

"Really? But he is onii-chan."

"And a medic ninja."

"Hmm, papa will be better."

"I seriously doubt that, Naruto isn't a very good teacher when it comes to chakra control. Akira would be better to explain it to you."

"Okay." Ren was silent for a moment. "But papa can explain good too."

Sasuke shook his head, remembering Naruto's explanation using the litter box. "Hardly." Except perhaps to people similar to him in thinking.

Sasuke stepped up the porch, opened the door and walked inside, only to find Akira buried in books.

He was so busy, so concentrated, that he didn't even notice Sasuke walking behind him, putting Ren down on the couch.

"Working hard?" Sasuke asked softly.

Akira let the book in his hands drop out of surprise.

"Argh, tou-chan, don't startle me! I'm busy."

Sasuke smiled. "Found something new?"

"Always," Akira told him happily. "Look here, just now I was reading the work of Hoto-san, he says that-" Akira excitedly told Sasuke what he had found out, and Sasuke patiently listened.

"Doesn't that mean he's wrong?" Sasuke asked. He got some paper and started drawing something. "Look."

Akira looked down to Sasuke's explanation.

"But this is not what he said," he pointed to the paper. "He said he had found a cell structure similar to that of- "

Ren sleepily tried to follow anything Akira and Sasuke talked about, but she had already lost them after Akira's second sentence of explanation.

She stood up, and walked over to the kitchen, she was thirsty and hungry. She felt like eating an orange. However, when she had climbed up the chair to look onto the kitchen table, she found no oranges in the fruit bowl. Pouting she slowly took out some other fruits, inspecting them, thinking if she felt like eating them or not. She was tired, her movements were slow and the fruits felt heavy.

When Sasuke walked into the kitchen he found her hanging over the table, slowly picking up fruits, considering it before putting it back.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't know what I feel like eating," she said sadly.

Sasuke picked her up and put her down. "Go back to the living room."

Ren did so. Akira was waiting for Sasuke to return. He was fiddling with the paper they had been writing upon, lost in thought.

"Satake says you study too much," Ren told Akira while she climbed up the couch.

Akira turned around, looking at her; she stared back innocently. Her eyes were half closed, she really was tired.

"Sakumo-kun could study a little more," he told her, offended by the words.

"He's not in school yet," Ren told him, falling back onto the couch.

"Exactly."

It was quiet for a moment.

"Satake also says you should read less."

"Does he?"

"He did."

"Perhaps you should listen a little less to what he says, and think a little more for yourself." Akira turned his back to her, folding his arms.

Ren sat up again, looking at Akira's back. "I do!"

"Clearly not. Is there more Sakumo told you I should know about? Or are you able to tell me without using his words?"

Ren pursed her lips. "You are boring," she told him.

"Ha, says you. You sleep all day." Akira looked down to his notes.

"I do not!" Ren shuffled closer to the edge of the couch. "You… you…" Ren looked around the room, trying to think of something to tell him.

"You stutter," Akira told her.

"Not!" Ren stood up, and jumped onto Akira's back. "I was just thinking!"

When Sasuke stepped inside the room, he didn't find Akira waiting for him to continue their discussion, or Ren waiting for him to bring her something to eat. Instead he found the two lying on the floor, pulling each other's hair, and in Ren's case, biting Akira's arm.

"What is this?" he asked with a deep voice.

The fighting stopped, and two pairs of eyes looked up before quickly looking away.

"Onii-chan says I stutter!" Ren was the first to speak, pointing to Akira. Akira glanced at her, but didn't say anything.

Sasuke couldn't imagine this had been the start of their fight. Seeing the way Akira looked, he knew Sasuke wouldn't think so.

Akira was older and should be wiser, not have been provoked by Ren, and Ren should not have jumped on Akira, but being sibling makes one forget these things. Sasuke knew this was what they did every now and then, so he didn't feel like lecturing the two about something they already knew. He walked up to Ren, gave her a small bowl filled with different fruits before he sat down at the table, looking down at the paper with both his own and Akira's writings.

Akira looked down to Ren, seeing her eyes sparkle as she looked at her fruit. Fruit had that effect on her. He could probably ask her why she had started the fight just now, and she would just look up to him like she had no idea what he was talking about.

He rolled his eyes when he saw Ren cradling the bowl in her arms as if she needed to protect her precious treasure, and walked over to Sasuke, to continue their discussion.

-x-

Naruto sat behind his desk, playing with his pencil. Perhaps today he couldn't make things more fun. He was really trying to listen to the man in front of him, but he was so old, and he talked so slowly. Naruto wasn't sure, but he had the feeling this was the fourth time the man was telling him he had discovered a new method to negotiate with some small country.

Naruto tried to suppress a yawn, but he was caught doing so nonetheless. Shikamaru gave him a bored look, telling him he should pay attention.

Immediately Naruto straightened up, and tried to look interested. "I see."

The man just kept talking with his boring voice, and Naruto couldn't help it when his interested look disappeared after only three words of the old ninja.

How that man had become a ninja in the first place was beyond him. Perhaps it was his specialty to bore people, his secret family jutsu.

Immediately Naruto imagined a younger version of the man standing on an empty plot, facing a couple of enemies.

'_We got you now, stupid Konoha ninja, there is no escaping!'_

'_I wouldn't be too sure of that. I will succeed in my mission, and bring back the utterly and ultimately important scroll of justice, which would be convenient for us to have, while we are at peace, so we can live together in harmony and prospect at the same time as being happy and filled with loved by those around us. Even though we might not be able to teach everyone this wonderful and insightful information, we will try to improve an better ourselves and the rest of the world for the greater good, so we can be together for all eternity-'_

_Slowly the enemies' eyes are closing, until one startles awake. 'Be careful, this is his secret jutsu! I heard of it. He is trying to bore us to death, literally!'_

'_Oh, no! Don't listen to him.'_

Naruto sniggered, which earned him another bored look from Shikamaru. Naruto bit his lip, trying to keep his laugh.

Again the man was telling how wonderful a discovery he had made. Naruto had enough. "You know what, Haguru-san, we'll look into it. You got all the information in that file you got there?"

The man looked up bewildered, having been interrupted in his story so suddenly. "Uh… ah…" He adjusted his glasses, "Ah, yes, Hokage-sama."

"Good, then you can go. I'm a busy man, you know."

The man blinked a couple of times, and looked down at Naruto's outstretched hand. Then he looked back up to Naruto, back to the hand before he finally understood. "Of course, Hokage-sama. Thank you for your time." He handed Naruto the not unexpectedly thick file -he probably wrote as much as he could talk- before he made a small bow and left the room.

Immediately Naruto dropped the file on his desk, slid down his chair, and sighed. "What was he even talking about?" he asked Shikamaru. His tail hung beside the chair, unable to move around.

Shikamaru put his fingers on the bridge of his nose. "Did you hear anything of what he just told you?"

"Not really," Naruto admitted, rolling the pencil over his desk. "Didn't really sound very interesting."

"The man has been working on this for a very long time," Shikamaru told Naruto, shuffling in his chair to sit in a more comfortable way. "It's his lifework, you could say."

"Boring life he must have had," Naruto said uninterested. "I don't think he really had anything to say we could use."

Shikamaru glanced at him. "I hate to say it, but you are actually right. His 'new' method is based on the world of twenty years ago. A lot has changed."

"Why didn't anybody else tell him that? Before he got here." Naruto started to twist the pencil now.

Shikamaru watched him do so for quite a while.

"Probably no one could actually stand to listen to all that he had to say," Naruto answered himself. "I know my attention span can be short, but no one would be able to keep his attention at him that long to completely hear his story."

Shikamaru sighed. "True."

Suddenly Naruto sat up. "So, I'll let you handle the report," he handed a stunned Shikamaru the heavy files, and turned back to his pencil. "I believe I need to read these reports for tomorrow." He pointed to a few very thin reports on his desk, grinning.

The dark haired ninja next to him gave him a lazy look before he got up.

"Don't overexert yourself."

"Don't worry Shikamaru, I won't," Naruto grinned, waving after his first assistant, his tail waving behind him.

When the door closed after Shikamaru, Naruto eyed the few reports he had to read. "Nah, that can wait."

He leaned back in his chair, and put his arms behind his head, looking at the ceiling. He felt like eating some ramen, it had been a while since he last had been to Ichiraku ramen. Perhaps he could take a short break.

However, his thoughts of delicious ramen -making him only more hungry- were cut shot by knocking on the door.

"Yes?" he called, sitting up straight, picking up his pencil again.

A man with dark glasses and a hood on came walking in. Standing a little too straight the ninja waited for Naruto to talk.

"So, what's the problem?" Naruto asked, shoving an opened, but unread file aside.

"About my team-" Shino started.

"They still didn't finish that D-rank assignment?" Naruto asked. "How long does it take to paint this tower?"

Shino was silent for a moment. "They cannot properly walk up walls yet," he said softly. "Because they have just graduated two months ago."

"But still, even without using chakra to climb walls, it is still taking too long I tell you. I bet my team would have handled it a long time ago, even without using chakra. Shino, you should-"

"Naruto," Shino interrupted Naruto.

"Hm?"

"We already finished the painting two weeks ago."

Silence hung in the air.

"Really?" Naruto tried to look outside, but of course wouldn't be able to see much of the paintwork from the inside. "I hadn't noticed yet." He stood leaning against the windowsill, turning his back to a slightly depressed Shino.

"You didn't notice?"

"Hm?" Naruto turned back. "Then what _did_ you came for?"

Shino didn't speak for some time. Naruto actually started to wonder if he wasn't sleeping or anything, standing so still.

"We finished our assignment," Shino finally spoke.

"The painting? You just said so."

"No, the assignment you gave us yesterday."

Naruto blinked. "Yesterday? I gave you another assignment?" He looked down at his desk, as if it would provide him with the memory.

"Yes, it was already our tenth assignment since the painting," Shino spoke softly, but there was a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Tenth? Really? I must be working too hard or something," Naruto grinned. He shuffled through some files on his desk before he got out the right one, telling him about all given missions in the last month.

"Oh, yes, there you are… and there, and there…" Naruto looked up, grinning. "Haha."

Shino was not amused. "Next mission, please," he grumbled.

"Of course, sorry." Naruto looked into a different file, shuffling through some papers. "Ah, this is a good one." He handed Shino a paper with information, and closed the file of D-rank missions. "I heard your team is doing alright. What do you think of them?" he asked curiously.

"They are okay. A bit too energetic sometimes." Shino put the paper away in one of his pockets. He was already starting to turn around.

"I knew you needed a team. It's fun." Naruto smiled broadly.

"Hm." Shino walked away.

Just as he opened the door Shikamaru came back in.

"Hey," Shikamaru greeted. He dropped some new files on the (until now) still small stack of files Naruto was supposed to read. "Get to work," he told Naruto, turned around and started walking out. "I need those signed before you can go home."

"What?" Naruto eyed the now 30 cm high pile of paperwork. "No way. Before dinner?" He looked at the clock, and sunk into his chair, sighing. "I wanted to get home early today~," he whined.

"Then you better get to it, because little Ren will not be able to see you before you are finished." Shikamaru turned around, walking to the door. "You wanted to be Hokage," he smiled, closing the door once more, leaving Naruto alone to his work.

"I did." Naruto sat up straight again. "And I love being it!"

-x-

Naruto silently crept into the dark room, closing the door soundlessly. Without making any other sounds he undressed, and lifted up the covers. Crawling under them, he made his way to the lonely body lying there.

Sasuke was already asleep, and didn't notice Naruto coming in the room or getting in bed until he felt hands touch his chest, trying to find their way around.

Slowly he opened his eyes, and moved the covers up a little. When he peered underneath them he first found two black ears, and then two blue eyes staring at him. He smiled before he let the covers drop again.

"You're home late."

Naruto moved up, over Sasuke's body, until his hair slowly moved from under the covers, yellow spikes followed by black ears, by a pair of eyes, a nose and a mouth. Smiling Naruto lay his head beside Sasuke's while he still lay across Sasuke under the covers.

"Shikamaru made me finish some reports."

"Took you quite a time, you didn't fall asleep, did you?"

"N… n- I-."

Sasuke smiled; he had.

"Now I had to bring Ren to bed all alone."

Naruto pouted. "You're mean. I think I'll give you a very long mission soon."

"You already gave me one, remember? For tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah. That was for the last time you told me something like that."

"And only because you couldn't stall it any longer for me from going on any missions."

Naruto smirked. "You don't like being at home?"

"I do, but I also like going on missions."

"So how were things at home?" Naruto asked, letting his fingers play with Sasuke's shoulder.

"Akira and I had quite an interesting discussion about his research until bedtime."

"Sounds boring."

"And Ren…"

Naruto looked up. "How did she do?"

"Quite well actually. Of course she couldn't really do anything, she still is too young, and has never done anything like this before."

"I didn't really expect her to be able to do anything interesting for at least another two months."

"Hm," Sasuke agreed. "At least she understands everything I told her. I was quite impressed."

"So am I," Naruto smiled. "Your explanations can be so… confusing sometimes."

"As long as she is interested in the subject she pays attention, and learns rather fast. She catches on very quickly."

"She got that from you," Naruto hugged Sasuke.

Sasuke smiled, turning his head to Naruto. "You can't let her train for the next couple of days."

"Why?" Naruto asked. "Is she sick again?"

"I don't think it is good for her to train too much for now. She isn't used to this, and it takes a lot from her."

"I was afraid it would."

"She will be alright the day after tomorrow."

"You won't be here anyway, so you can't train her."

"Akira could."

"Ah, right, Akira-kun." Naruto grinned. "Yeah, he would be better at training her than I would be."

"Indeed."

"Hey," Naruto hit Sasuke, "you didn't need to agree so easily."

"It's true," was Sasuke's simple answer.

"Yeah…"

Naruto laid his head back down on Sasuke's shoulder. "Akira will miss you and your discussions. I cannot do anything like that. I think I'll send him over to Sakura sometime."

"He'll survive, I'm more worried about you." Sasuke moved his arms around Naruto.

"Why? I can handle myself."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm Hokage, of course I can handle myself. I need to take care of an entire village, why wouldn't I be able to take care of myself?"

"Because I'm not around."

…

"Yeah, you're right, I probably can't." Naruto laughed. "You will come back as soon as possible, won't you?"

"Of course."

"No talking to strangers."

"Of course not."

"Ditch all women that will try to keep you away from me."

"No problem."

"Or men."

"Of course."

"No unnecessary killing."

"I'll try."

"Good. I love you."

Sasuke pressed Naruto closed. "You know I wouldn't be able to be gone away for too long; away from you."

"And Akira-kun and Ren-chan."

"Couldn't live without you."

"And we need you too." Naruto glanced up to Sasuke. "Especially Ren-chan, she needs you to tell her a bedtime story."

"She's a lot like you when it comes to that."

"You don't tell me bedtime stories."

"Of course I do."

"You do?"

"Just in a more grown up way."

"Really?" Naruto frowned, trying to think of what Sasuke had just meant.

Sasuke sighed. "Don't try to fry your brain."

"Then tell me what you mean?"

"You can be so dense."

"I know, now tell me."

"At least I know where Ren got her persistence from."

"And from whom she got that way of not telling things…"

Silence fell.

Naruto was very tired, shifted into a better sleeping position, and was actually almost asleep when Sasuke spoke up.

"So, is she more an Uchiha or an Uzumaki?"

Naruto smiled. "Definitely both," he told him. "We didn't name her Uchiha Uzumaki Ren for nothing."

"Hm, you're right."

-oXo-

A/N: I hardly dare to say it, but I thought I had posted this a long time ago... Guess not ^^


	18. Chapter 18: The Aftereffect

**Chapter 18: The After-effect**

_18__th__ of October_

It was the 18th of October. Naruto came stumbling downstairs, looking ill as he held his hand on his stomach. Usually he tried to hide it, but this year Sasuke knew, so there was no use for that anymore. Every year on that same day that crazy doctor put that jutsu on Sasuke and him, it hurt inside.

He sat down at the table, groaning as his stomach gave a painful churn, and let his head fall on the table. It actually seemed worse than other years.

"Is it that bad?" Sasuke asked as he handed Naruto a plate with a sandwich. He'd known Naruto was in pain on this day, but he hadn't known how much exactly; Naruto was very good at hiding it.

"It seems worse~," the blond mumbled into the wood. Sasuke let his hand slide through Naruto's spikes before turning away again.

"Can't you stay at home for one time?" Ren asked with a soft voice. "When I don't feel good you always say I have to stay at home."

"But who will-?"

"I'll go ask Tsunade-sama," Sasuke said and walked over to the door. "I don't think she'll mind filling in for one day."

"Fine." Naruto carefully straightened up, and started eating small pieces of his bread.

Sasuke kissed Naruto on the cheek before he left the house to see Tsunade.

"I'm going to Satake later, but… Should I stay home and take care of you?" Ren asked, looking sadly to Naruto.

"No, you go play with Sakumo-kun. Sasuke will be home," Naruto smiled at her concern.

"Okay."

Akira hurriedly came down the stairs. "Why didn't anyone wake me?" He sounded angry.

Naruto groaned at the sound, lowering his ears. Akira stopped to look at him. "Are you alright, Naruto?"

"Not really."

Akira looked over to Ren, who was playfully eating her bread, and then back to Naruto, nibbling on his own bread. "Perhaps you should stay at home?" He didn't really remember a time Naruto had been ill and had stayed home.

"I will, don't worry, you're not the first one to tell me that."

The doorbell rang and Ren perked up. "Oo, Satake!" She was gone before anyone could say anything. If Sasuke had still been here she wouldn't have done so. "Satake!"

Akira hastily grabbed some bread, and put it in his mouth. He had never overslept before, but today... he didn't know, perhaps because he hadn't slept that well. He was still angry no one had woken him up.

Ren came back, looking sadly as she climbed back up her chair, and resumed eating her breakfast.

"It's not Sakumo-kun?" Akira asked, looking over to the door. A tall man with long black hair and pale violet eyes came walking in, followed by a girl with black hair and red eyes, and a boy with long spiky hair that fell down around his face while his brown eyes were narrowed as they looked at Akira.

"Akira, how could it be you overslept?" he asked, entering the kitchen. "Hokage-sama," he greeted Naruto.

"Ohayo, Hikaru-kun," Naruto mumbled.

"Not feeling well?" a gruff voice asked. Naruto looked up to Akira's sensei and shrugged.

"Apparently it's a bad day," Akane smiled, and walked up to the kitchen sink to help Akira make his lunch.

"Even the Hokage can have a bad day," Hikaru said, looking over to his two teammates. He walked over to them. "Come on, Akira!" Hikaru pulled at his sleeve. "I thought you could be faster than this."

"This is my first time being late!" Akira retorted. "You are _always_ late!"

"Not always..."

Akane and Akira gave him a look. "I honestly don't understand that you aren't in some way related to Kakashi-san."

"I would like to be," Hikaru smiled as he thought of what kind of effect a famous name would have on girls.

Akane hit him on the back of his head. "Baka!"

"Ouch, Akane-cha~n! I didn't do anything."

"I know you were thinking something stupid, probably involving girls."

"No, I wasn't."

"You were," Akira said as he quickly stuffed some bread made by Akane in his bento box.

"Sensei, I wasn't!" Hikaru turned around looking up to meet an emotionless face. His own face fell. "Sensei! Are you even listening?"

"Sadly, yes."

Naruto grinned as he put another piece of bread in his mouth.

"Sensei~!" Hikaru whined again.

"Hikaru-kun, you know that will have no effect whatsoever on him," Akane told him.

"Do you even care about us?" Hikaru asked his sensei dramatically, making a show by hanging limply over a chair, grasping to his heart.

A sigh was the only answer he got from his sensei.

"Sensei?" Hikaru reached for his sensei, fake tears falling down his face. "Why?"

Neji looked down to his students, arms crossed, not responding in any way. Out of all the students he could get, Naruto had given him Sasuke's son, Kurenai's daughter and a class clown. It was like he had done so on purpose.

Naruto grinned to him.

Correction, he _had_ done so on purpose. Neji silently sighed.

"Neji-sensei," Akira turned around after he had finished getting everything and bowed to Neji. "I'm sorry for being late and a bother. You didn't have to come to my house to pick me up."

"He had to," Akane said, smiling. "We made him."

Akira straightened up again, looking to his sensei. "Oh."

Neji sighed once more. "Doesn't matter. At least you apologized." Neji's eyes moved slowly over to Hikaru.

"What?" Hikaru asked as the other eyes turned to him as well. "What?"

"He doesn't even notice," Akira said as he shook his head.

"He does, but he just acts stupid," Akane told him.

"Let's go." Neji turned around, and without another word was already outside before his team was done saying goodbye to their Hokage.

"Bye, Ren-chan."

Ren had followed the genin team to the door and was waving at Akira and his friends.

"BYE! BYE, ONII-CHA-" suddenly she stopped. "SATAKE!"

Inside the kitchen, Naruto had folded his ears against his head once more; looking grumpy when Sakumo and Ren came running around.

"You still here?" Kakashi asked as he leant against the doorpost. He peered down to the bread where little pieces had been nibbled off.

"Hmm." Naruto stood up and stumbled to the sink, placing his plate in there. He clutched his stomach before he turned around, looking pained. "I'm going back to bed." He slowly walked over to the stairs. Kakashi followed him with his eye, not saying anything. He knew better than that.

"Bye, Ren-chan," Naruto said as he gripped the handrail.

Immediately Ren appeared in front of him. "Bye, papa." She jumped up and down, but Naruto didn't turn around so she grabbed the leg of his pants. "Papa!" she said angrily.

Naruto looked back; Ren was jumping again. "Sorry." He sat down on the stairs, laying a hand on his stomach, and Ren gave him a kiss.

"Bye, papa."

"Yes, bye bye," Naruto said nearly emotionless, his tail sadly curling between his legs.

"Is your papa ill?" Sakumo asked as Naruto disappeared inside his bedroom.

Ren nodded. "Papa has stomach ache, so he stays home. Just like I do when I'm ill."

Kakashi walked up to the children. "Got everything?"

"Oh, wait, Kakashi-san!" Ren quickly and carefully ran upstairs, closely followed by Sakumo.

Five minutes later they came back with Ren's backpack all filled up.

"Catch, tou-san!" Sakumo threw the bag down the stairs. Kakashi quickly caught it, having to put his book away first.

"You shouldn't talk so loud. Naruto wants to sleep, remember," he told his son.

"Oh, right." Sakumo stopped halfway the staircase, Ren passing him. "Sorry, Naruto-san!"

"Papa can also hear you when you whisper," Ren told Sakumo.

"Oh, yeah." He turned his head back upstairs. "Sorry," he whispered.

Kakashi shook his head as the two children passed him and went outside.

-x-

He was staring at the ceiling, listening to his stomach make all kinds of sounds and movements he rather not have them do. He groaned and turned onto his back.

"I brought you some tea." Sasuke came walking in, put the tea down, and sat next to Naruto on the bed. His hand went up to Naruto's whiskers and stroked his cheek.

"I want distraction." Naruto looked up into black eyes, hoping Sasuke would stay in the room.

Sasuke had already had a plan in mind before he'd even entered the room. He leant over Naruto and started kissing his cheek, slowly lowering to his neck.

"That was not what I had in mind, but..." Naruto closed his eyes, and brought his hand up to Sasuke's neck, playing with the short hairs at the back of his neck, teasing the skin. Sasuke liked that, and shivered a bit as something pleasant ran down his spine.

Sasuke removed the blankets from Naruto, and quickly pulled out his shirt, kissing him lower and lower. He started kissing and licking Naruto's troubled stomach. Naruto actually liked it so he didn't push Sasuke away, but held him in place.

Sasuke noticed so. He grinned as he proceeded the soft kisses; his hands travelling over Naruto's torso, his waist, his hips and then his thighs.

"I'll make you forget the pain," Sasuke said mischievously, glancing up.

"You do that," Naruto tried to smile, but he grimaced more than smiling.

Sasuke's tongue travelled over Naruto's stomach, not following the appearing black lines of the seal. His hands stroked soft skin, slowly going from the outside of Naruto's thighs to the inside.

Naruto moved his legs up beside Sasuke. Then he gripped Sasuke's vest and started peeling it off from a busy Sasuke, trying not to interrupt him.

Naruto moaned, not out of pain, but pleasure when Sasuke moved his hand up to his crotch. Naruto pushed Sasuke's head away and bucket up his hips, waiting for Sasuke to help him take off his boxers.

Sasuke was all too happy to help him, and made his own underwear follow Naruto's.

"You seriously been planning this?" Naruto asked, flinching. His fingers made their way into Sasuke's long black hair and pulled him down.

Sasuke smirked before proceeding his licking and kissing from before. "Hm." He moved lower, leaving Naruto's troubled stomach; hearing it churn.

Naruto moved his head to the side. "You're not really doing a good job at distracting me," Naruto disappointly told his raven.

He would soon realize Sasuke didn't like to disappoint the blond, making Naruto gasp.

"Okay, okay, I take that back," Naruto told him, as he felt a tongue do things to him he liked a lot.

Slowly Sasuke got back up, reached for Naruto's face, and stroked it. Naruto leaned into the touch.

"You won't even remember the real reason you stayed home today." Kissing Naruto on the lips he lowered down Naruto's body, starting to prepare him.

The only answers Naruto could give Sasuke were moans and gasps, until Sasuke thought it was time. Leaning over Naruto once more his hand moved over to the nightstand.

Naruto started kissing Sasuke's torso, moving his hands up and down the raven's pale sides. Sasuke almost forgot the tube in his hand, until Naruto abruptly pushed him away. "Still know why I stayed at home."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and smirked. "Hm."

He made sure the cold content of the tube made Naruto know who he was talking to, who was in control here.

As he moved closer to Naruto, filling him up, he put his hands beside Naruto and started kissing his soft lips. Naruto returned the kisses between soft gasps of pleasure. Just like their kisses, their moans and the moving of their warm bodies, it all went in sync.

"This feels so good!" Naruto nearly screamed at Sasuke, gripping his shoulders more tightly.

"It does," Sasuke panted in his ear.

"Different than usual."

"Better," Sasuke agreed, moving his body up.

"Like we have to do it," Naruto moaned, trying to move in rhythm with Sasuke.

"It makes us complete."

Naruto agreed by groaning loudly.

-x-

When he woke up, at first he was a bit confused, wondering if it was night or not. When he looked outside he knew it was day, but then why was Sasuke lying beside him.

He wanted to try turn toward Sasuke, but soon understood everything. His stomach rumbled, painfully churned, and Naruto moaned.

Sasuke turned his head to look at Naruto. "Does it hurt again?"

"Again?"

"It stopped after we had sex."

"Ouch." Naruto flinched as his hand went up his troubled stomach. "Really?"

"You don't remember?"

"Not much," Naruto told him honestly, "about what happened afterwards." He smiled. His hand slid of his stomach as he turned a little more toward Sasuke.

"We talked for a while before you fell asleep. You've slept for half the afternoon. I think Ren and Akira will get home soon."

"And you stayed lying beside me?" Naruto turned his head to look at Sasuke.

A hand moved up to his cheek, stroking it. "Of course, I like watching you sleep."

Naruto smiled. His hand moved up, but instead of placing it on Sasuke, it went to his belly. "I think the pain has become lesser than this morning."

Sasuke smiled. "We can see if we can even make it go away completely." Sasuke moved so he hung over Naruto. "The kids still aren't home yet." He started kissing Naruto's whiskered cheek.

"I don't know." Nevertheless Naruto moved both his hands over Sasuke's smooth skin, up his waist to his back.

"We'll change positions."

Naruto smiled into the kisses he gave Sasuke. "Hmm, can't decline that."

-x-

Ren practically ran to the door of her home. "Quick, quick, I need to know if papa is alright!" she yelled to Kakashi and Sakumo. Impatiently she jumped in front of the door. Somehow it was locked, she couldn't get it open.

"Papa!" she yelled worriedly. "Papa! Are you alright? Are you sleeping?"

She turned to face Kakashi. "Hurry, hurry!"

"Don't worry Ren, Sasuke is there." He rang the doorbell. "Naruto will be alright."

However, after five times ringing the bell, an impatient Ren nearly tearing the fabric of his pants, and waiting some more, the door still wasn't opened. Even Kakashi couldn't calm Ren down anymore.

"Wait here, I'll walk around the house," Kakashi told the kids.

"No, I want to come too!"

"Stay here in case they open the front door."

Ren sniffed. Sakumo got her hand and turned back to the door. "Everything is alright."

Kakashi was just about to walk away when finally the door was opened. Sasuke stood in the doorway, holding the door open just a little bit so he could see who was there.

"Ah, you're back." He knelt down to hug a nearly crying Ren.

"Why didn't you open the door?" she asked sadly, unable to keep her tears from falling down her cheeks.

"There, there. Nothing is wrong. Naruto and I had just fallen asleep."

Kakashi glanced down Sasuke's nearly undressed state. "Next time take the extra two seconds to pull on some more than just your underwear," he warned Sasuke playfully.

Sasuke glanced up, but didn't react.

"How's papa? Is he alright? Is he still ill? Can I see him? Where is he?" Ren's waterfall of questions kept coming, so Sasuke picked her up.

"I told you we were sleeping," Sasuke told Ren once more. "Naruto is still in bed, _asleep_," he stressed the last word with a look at Kakashi. "Just wait till he wakes up. Let's make some dinner for him."

"Yes, dinner," Ren sniffed, wiping off the last of her tears.

"Next time just open the door after the third time it rings," Kakashi told Sasuke lazily before he leant forward and continued in a whisper so only Sasuke would hear. "Or just hurry things up if you must necessarily do…," Kakashi didn't finish his sentence when he saw a sad Ren look around at him. He raised his eyebrow before he stood up straight again.

"Like you are one to talk," Sasuke said softly. "Say goodbye," he told Ren.

"Bye, thank you! Bye Satake!" Ren waved happily to Sakumo.

"Bye Ren-tan! Take care of your papa."

Sasuke closed the door, after hearing Kakashi mumble something referring to them spending the entire afternoon in bed, having a 'hard time'.

"Let's make Naruto some ramen," Sasuke told Ren while he put her down.

"Okay!" Ren grasped Sasuke's hand and pulled him to the kitchen.

Ren climbed up a small stool so she could reach the kitchen counter. Sasuke handed her come vegetables she could start cutting. Watching her carefully use the knife to cut up the green plant, Sasuke started cooking some noodles.

Suddenly Ren put her knife down and looked up to Sasuke as he watched the noodles, still standing only wearing his boxers.

"What did Kakashi-san mean by that you probably had a 'hard time'?"

Sasuke stiffened. He slowly turned to face her and tried to smile. "Nothing, he meant Naruto probably had a hard time not being in the Hokage tower, staying at home," he quickly made up. "You heard him say that?" he asked while looking down onto the yellow spikes.

Two dark eyes turned to look up at him. "I shouldn't?" Ren asked nervously.

Sasuke smiled. "I'll take a look if Naruto is awake; and get dressed."

"Okay. Can I have an apple?" Ren looked up to the kitchen table.

"Sure." Sasuke walked away.

Ren was stunned Sasuke allowed her to eat an apple so close before dinner time. She didn't mind however, and quickly walked over to the table to get her apple before Sasuke would change his mind.

-x-

Naruto sniffed the air before he opened his eyes. Beside him stood his little girl with a steaming cup of deliciously self-made ramen.

Ren was looking down at the cup, holding it on a small tray, and pulled up her nose at the smell coming from it. She didn't really like ramen.

Then she looked up to Naruto and saw him open up his blue eyes. "Are you feeling better? Otou-chan said you were awake. You slept quite a while past dinner time, but otou-chan said it was alright, so we waited till you woke up, and then-" She was talking so fast she nearly let the tray drop. Sasuke quickly steadied it.

"Ren-chan, calm down." Naruto smiled at her, and tried to sit up.

"Are you alright?"

Naruto laid his hand on his stomach, and with the other he took the cup from the tray. "I will be soon, after I finish this special cup of ramen."

"Special?" Ren tilted her head.

"You made it, didn't you?"

"I cut the vegetables and brought it to you."

"Then your love and wanting me to get better is all inside it." Sasuke smiled as he watched from the side.

"It is? You can see it?" Ren stood on her toes, trying to look inside the cup.

"I can feel it."

Ren smiled. She climbed up the bed and sat down beside Naruto. "I will take care of you, like you do to me." She leant against Naruto, looking up as her arms carefully folded around Naruto's torso.

"Thank you Ren-chan, that really helps making me feel better."

Ren nestled herself against Naruto's side.

"Isn't Akira-kun home?" Naruto asked, blowing the steaming cup.

"Otou-chan said he had to do a mission and will be home tomorrow." Ren looked up to Sasuke.

"Oh, I remember I put aside a mission for them yesterday," Naruto remembered.

"He came home while you were asleep to get some things." Sasuke stepped closer to the bed. "The first time you were sleeping." He sat down on the other side of Naruto.

"Did you have dinner already?"

"We did, otou-chan made pancakes!"

"Lucky you." Naruto blew his steaming cup of ramen.

"You wanted to have some too?" Ren asked.

"No, I prefer my ramen." He quickly put some in his mouth and moaned. "Ah, this is sooo good."

Sasuke looked down to Naruto. "Of course not that good."

Naruto looked up to Sasuke and saw the smirk on his face. "Of course. Nothing can surpass your goodness." Naruto moved his arm behind Sasuke.

In reply Sasuke kissed him.

Ren got jealous, and stood up. "Me too." She leant over Naruto, waiting for him to kiss her.

Naruto smiled, and kissed her on her cheek. Before Ren could move back Sasuke pulled her over to him. "What about me?" he asked, tickling her.

"I'm sorry!" She tried to push Sasuke's hands away. "I was planning to ask you too!"

Sasuke stopped tickling. "Then everything is alright." He sat her on his lap, and kissed her too.

They sat like this for a while until Naruto emptied his ramen cup, and put it aside.

"You've grown a lot," Sasuke suddenly said, holding his hand on top of Ren's head.

Ren looked up to Sasuke. "I have?"

"Of course you have."

"But all the kids on the playground are taller than me."

"Ren, do you know how small you used to be?" Naruto leant back into the stuffed pillows behind him.

Ren tilted her head, looking to Naruto. "No."

"Sasuke used to hold you on his arm, like this," Naruto held out his arm, and indicated how she used to lay on Sasuke's arm; with her head in his hand and her tiny body on his lower arm. "You weren't much bigger than that."

"I was that small?" Ren looked back to Sasuke, looking down at his arm.

"That small," Sasuke confirmed.

"You see, right after you were born, Sasuke had to take care of you for a while."

"I was very nervous," Sasuke admitted.

"Why?" Ren turned around so she could face both Naruto and Sasuke at the same time.

"Because you were so tiny, and I was afraid I would hurt you."

"I don't remember."

Naruto smiled. "The first time I saw you, you were already two weeks old. So you used to be even smaller than I can remember."

"Even smaller?" Ren's eyes grew wider. "Is that why I am still so small?"

Sasuke shook his head. "You will grow a lot more. You might be the smallest of the kids on the playground now, but that might change."

"I used to be the shortest too."

"You still are short," Sasuke told Naruto.

Naruto pouted. "You are just way too tall."

"Papa was short too?"

"When we graduated I was the shortest of our team."

"And stayed that way until we turned 18."

"That's not true! I was already taller than Sakura-chan when I came back from my training trip with Ero-sennin."

"Alright, but you were still small."

"You couldn't have been that much taller than I was back then," Naruto protested.

"Maybe."

Ren looked from one to the other as they 'argued'. "But I might become as tall as otou-chan?" she suddenly asked, leaning forward to her two fathers.

"You might."

Ren happily sat up straight. "I might become taller than Satake." She giggled at the thought and let herself fall back.

Naruto and Sasuke laughed along with her.

* * *

><p>A month had passed. Naruto was standing in the hospital, looking down at some machine Sakura was pointing to.<p>

"So? What does that mean?" he asked, not having understood a single word of Sakura's explanation.

Sakura sighed. "It means we can compare DNA more easily."

"Then why didn't you say so?" Naruto lowered a little to look at the weird looking machine. Cables were sticking out, some going back into the machine, others were connected to a smaller device next to the big one.

"I did." Sakura put her hand in her sides. "You see this small screen?"

Naruto looked at the screen she was pointing at. It wasn't much bigger than her hand, and was showing some green letters.

"This is the screen that will tell us the outcome. Let me demonstrate."

Naruto moved back, looking at everything Sakura did. First I need some DNA sample. She looked down Naruto's red coat. Naruto took a step back when Sakura came closer to him.

"Don't-" Naruto already started, but then saw Sakura's hand move to his shoulder.

"This will do," she told him, picking a long blond hair off the fabric of his coat.

"But that's not a hair of mine," Naruto told her.

"I know, it's Ren-chan's. Only she has such long blond hair." Sakura indicated bangs much like Sasuke had.

"Right."

Sakura put the long blond hair inside a small test-tube which she placed inside a slot in the machine. Naruto watched her work as she pressed some buttons and other things.

When she finished she took a step back.

"And now?" Naruto asked.

"We wait." Sakura crossed her arms, watching the machine work with satisfaction on her face.

"How long?"

"Not that long, just a couple of hours."

"Hours? I don't have hours to just watch a machine work. I need to hand out missions and read what Gaara wrote in his last letter so-"

"I know, I know. You're busy." Sakura turned to Naruto. "I already thought you would start whining, so…" she turned back to the machine, blocking Naruto's view of what she was doing.

"So?" Naruto moved so he could look around her. He saw that she took a test-tube out of a slot. "You said it would take hours?"

"It will, so I put this one in here this morning." Sakura held up the small tube. "Ren-chan's hair, tada."

Naruto blinked, staring at another blond hair (which could have been the same hair Sakura had just taken off his coat). "O… kay." Naruto looked up to Sakura. "So?" It took Naruto a moment to understand what was going on.

Sakura sighed, lowering the tube with liquid and a hair floating inside. "So the results will come in just-" She turned around once more, watching the screen as she pointed to it. It started blinking a soft green light. "Now."

They both leant in closer to see. "Look closely. Who will be Ren-chan's parents?"

Naruto turned his head to Sakura. "Eh… Sasuke and me," he said, not believing she asked that.

"Shh, of course, but what will the M.. say?"

"Who's Emily?"

Sakura sighed again, starting to get annoyed by Naruto's stupidity. "It's spelled M-I-L-E-E. I told you that's the name of this thing."

"Oh, right, Milly." Naruto leant forward again, watching the screen. Sakura shook her head, trying to refrain herself from struggling the Hokage.

On the screen a long sequence was slowly forming consisting out of G, C, A and Ts. "What's-"

"DNA," was Sakura's short reply. "Just wait and see."

The long sequence stopped and finally two names appeared: Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto.

"How-" Naruto pointed to the screen. He looked up to Sakura, who was smiling broadly at him.

"We had a hell of a job putting DNA of every shinobi inside this computer, but the result is wonderful, don't you think."

Naruto stared at the happy Sakura for a moment longer before he straightened up again. "I don't see the use of this. You were there when Ren was born and when she was… conceived; so to say."

Sakura's face fell. "That's beside the point, Naruto! Can't you see how brilliant the M. is?" All she needed to do was watch Naruto. He was about to open his mouth, but Sakura stopped him. "I get it, I get it." She turned her back to him. "Just go back to your dusty and boring office." She waved her hand, indicating for him to leave.

Narrowing his eyes at her, Naruto turned away and walked out of Sakura's lab. Muttering he made his way to his desk, probably filled up with work for him. "I came all the way here just for a machine to tell me I have a daughter. I had 8 months to come used to that idea; of course I know I have a daughter!"

Grumpily he walked up the stairs, not greeting his secretary. Still swaying his tail he sat down behind his desk, unable to concentrate he stared out of the window watching the rock wall. He looked over to the head of his predecessor.

"I should have just let Tsunade handle all the medical stuff." He turned his back to the previous Hokages. "I did, didn't I?" Shaking his head he took out a paper and started reading. Soon a smile appeared on his face again as he read the letter from the Kazekage.

-x-

Ren sat silently on the couch, perfectly still, only her eyes moving as she watched Sasuke walk back and forth in the room. She had no idea what was going on, but he had been pacing around for quite a while now. First she had thought she had done something wrong, but since her father had yet to open his mouth she didn't think that was it.

He didn't really had an angry look on his face, but he seemed troubled nonetheless. Ren wasn't sure what to make out of it; she had never seen her father act like this.

Suddenly Sasuke stopped his pacing and looked up, as if he remembered something. Then he shook his head and started pacing again.

"Um… otou-chan?" Ren asked carefully. Her curiosity had finally taken over the slight fear she had felt.

Sasuke stopped walking and tilted his head, looking around. Finally he noticed Ren sitting on the couch.

"Ren? What are you doing here?"

Ren blinked and was unable to say anything for a while. "I…" she tilted her head. "Everything okay, otou-chan?"

"Yes, I'm fine… fine," Sasuke nodded.

"Then what are you doing? Is it a game?" Ren stood up and came to stand beside Sasuke.

"A game?" Sasuke asked confused, looking down to his daughter.

Ren nodded. "Hm." She started walking up and down the room, much like Sasuke had been doing.

"I was pacing?" Sasuke asked as he watched Ren's face; she wasn't frowning, but she didn't have a neutral expression either.

"Pacing?" Ren stopped and looked up to Sasuke. "How does it work? When is it time to suddenly stop and look up?"

Sasuke smiled. "No, no. It's not a game."

"It isn't?" Ren tilted her head once more.

"Sorry, come on, let's go outside and see how well you can control your chakra."

Unlike what Sasuke had expected from Ren, her face fell and she looked sadly away. "What's wrong?"

"I hate controlling chakra," she muttered. Her head lowered and her foot poked the floor.

Sasuke hunched down, placing his hands on Ren's shoulders. "Because it's hard to do?"

Ren glanced up and then nodded.

"But I'm proud of you." This also didn't get him the expected response. "Tell me." He lifted her chin.

Finally her dark eyes reached his. "It's just stupid."

"But you feel better, don't you?"

"A little," she muttered.

"You haven't been ill that much lately."

"Hm."

"You can play with Sakumo more often."

"True."

Sasuke watched her as she lowered her head again. He needed to give her some stimulation; it always did wonders to Naruto, just the right words…

Suddenly he got it.

"Doesn't Ren like to spend some time with her otou-chan?" he asked sadly.

Ren looked up surprised. "I… do, but-"

"You don't want me to train you anymore?" He bit his lip for the desired effect.

Ren's yes widened. "No! I love spending time with you! Don't be sad!" She hugged him, making Sasuke smile as she fell for it. "Let's go and train right now. I will not be sad anymore as long as you aren't!"

"Well, okay then, only if you are sure you want to do this." Sasuke pulled her away from him so he could see her small face.

"I do!" she nearly yelled.

Sasuke smiled again. "Okay." He stood up. "Let's go then."

Ren ran toward the porch, happily jumping off it before running to the back of the garden into the tall grass. "Come on, otou-chan!"

-x-

Sasuke watched Naruto empty bowl after bowl, still not believing he had agreed to go to Ichiraku Ramen for lunch. Ren had her nose pulled up at all the scents coming to her nose.

"I still can't believe sweet little Ren-chan won't have any ramen."

Ren looked up to Teuchi. "It's bleh," she said, sticking out her tongue.

"Ren," Sasuke warned.

"It's true! But Teuchi-san can make delicious red bean soup!"

Teuchi smiled. "This just earned you your second bowl of soup, for free."

Ren smiled.

"Hn, with the way Naruto keeps eating, that free bowl will be paid for anyway," Sasuke muttered.

"Hé! I just worked all night without eating anything!" Naruto huffed. "And then Sakura showing me a stupid machine," he muttered.

"Hn."

Right then Akira came running to them, panting he leant against a stool. "Sorry… I'm late…"

Quickly he sat down and saw Ren was working her way through her second bowl of soup, that Sasuke had already finished and Naruto was busy emptying his fourth bowl of ramen. "Um. You didn't even wait for me to arrive?" He looked up a bit hurt.

Sasuke looked down to his son. "Sorry, those two absolutely couldn't wait. Naruto was about to lose consciousness, the dobe."

"I was starving!"

Akira shook his head and ordered some food.

"At least they are still eating, so I won't mind."

"You had to train with team 22 and 3 again?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, that's why I'm late. They just didn't want to stop to have lunch. Neji-sensei and Shino-sensei just kept quiet while Riruka-sensei kept ordering us around. She yells a lot."

"Compared to Neji and Shino everyone yells."

"But she really yells." Akira leant closer to Sasuke. "Even more so than Naruto. I guess it's just the way she talks."

"I don't keep sending her to at least the other side of town with her team for nothing," Naruto said between stuffing ramen into his mouth.

"Hm, I see," Akira nodded.

Suddenly they heard a clash of something falling to the ground. "O, my! This is certainly very strange."

Naruto kept eating, as did Ren. Akira and Sasuke looked at each other before turning around.

"Are you alright, sir?" Akira asked politely, lifting the curtain so he could see the man behind it.

A young man with dark hair, wearing a hat, stood watching the four with a look of surprise on his face.

"Naruto-nii-chan? Sasuke?" Laughter sounded. "Are those clones or what?"

Naruto decided to turn around too. "Inari?" He asked, looking down the young man, seeing he was pointing to Ren and Akira.

Ren looked up from Naruto to Inari, before she turned back again to finish her food.

"It sure has been a while," Naruto said, standing up.

"Indeed," Inari smiled. "Good to see you two again." He looked down to Akira and Ren.

Naruto noticed so and started smiling too. "That is-" he started introducing, looking at Akira.

"Uchiha Akira," Akira said politely, bowing.

"He's Sasuke's son," Naruto said.

"Nice to meet you." Inari looked Akira over before looking to Sasuke. "You two really look a lot alike."

"They do," Naruto said before looking down to Ren. He turned her around on the stool, which she didn't appreciate being turned away from her soup. She pouted while looking up to Inari. "And this is Ren," Naruto said proudly.

"Your daughter?" Inari asked surprised.

"Yep."

"She looks a bit like…" Inari turned to Sasuke, looking into the same eyes as the little girl had.

"Sasuke is-"

"-my otou-chan," Ren finished Naruto's sentence.

Inari looked confused now.

"Long story," Naruto said, "But there's a new machine named Milou that can tell you I speak the truth."

Now not only Inari was giving Naruto a confused look, but Sasuke and Akira joined him.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"Milou?" Akira followed.

"Yeah, I know, it's useless, but it sure made Sakura happy having it. DNA-computer or something."

"You mean the M.?" Akira asked enthusiastically.

"Um, sure. Milou, Milly, whatever."

"Wow! Sakura-sensei told me about it, I didn't know it was already working!"

"It's quite boring though; don't get your hopes up."

Sasuke and Inari exchanged some looks.

"Papa, can I finish my soup?" Ren asked Naruto, pulling his sleeve.

"Sure."

Happily Ren turned back to the last bit of her soup.

"Last time I saw you, the two of you had a fight." Inari said softly.

Sasuke didn't seem to remember what he was talking about, neither did Naruto.

"When I came here to help rebuilt the village?" Inari inquired.

"Oh, right," Naruto finally remembered. "After fighting Pain."

"A fight?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, we did, sort of." Silence fell for a moment. Inari didn't dare to ask further.

"Come join us," Naruto suddenly said, waving his arm to Inari. "Sit down, Sasuke's paying."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Well, can't decline such an offer," Inari said. He picked up a hammer and a small saw he had dropped earlier.

"So how do you know each other?" Akira asked as Inari sat down beside him.

"Ah, that was a long time ago."

"Our first real mission," Naruto said. "Remember Sasuke?"

"Hn."

And so they ended retelling everything that happened.

"And that's how we defeated Gato all together," Inari ended.

"Wow, that was very brave." Akira had been very enthusiastic the entire story.

"Exactly."

"And tou-chan almost died…"

"I didn't."

"Yeah, that was really sad," Naruto added.

"I didn't die."

"But you almost did. It was so real and convincing. Even you thought you were going to die."

"I… I didn't."

"Don't lie, you did."

"You did?" Akira asked.

Sasuke sighed, his eyebrow started twitching.

"He told me all about how-" Sasuke stared angrily at Naruto, who abruptly stopped talking. "Yes, that's personal… you're right."

Awkward silence.

"Still can't believe how tall you are," Naruto changed the subject, looking over to Inari.

"I might be even taller than you are," Inari smirked.

"You're talking to the Hokage here," Naruto puffed up his chest.

"I was wondering about that."

"He can still state that he might be taller, even if you are Hokage," Sasuke stated.

"Shhh," Naruto pushed Sasuke.

"I'm short," Ren suddenly said to Inari, pouting.

Both Sasuke and Naruto looked down to the girl in between them.

"No you're not, you look quite tall to me," Inari tried to cheer her up.

"But I'm shortest on the playground."

"You might become just as tall as tou-chan," Akira told her, not believing she was talking about this again.

Ren instantly cheered up. "I forgot!" She straightened up and started humming; her legs swaying.

"What brings you to Konoha anyway?" Naruto asked Inari, while handing his empty bowl to Ayame.

"Some rich customers," Inari grinned.

"Ah, the rich ones."

"Speaking of which…" Inari turned around on his stool. "I need to go again. Thanks for the food, Sasuke." Inari stood up, missing Sasuke's expression as he took a few steps away from them.

"Before I leave, where can I find Sakura? I would like to visit her too." He stopped and turned around.

"She's in the hospital, working." Naruto rolled his eyes. "Probably with that stupid computer thing, Mitchel."

"M.," Akira told him. Naruto ignored the comment.

"It was good to see you again, nice to meet you two." He waved to Ren and Akira.

"Bye, bye, say hello to your foxes." Ren turned back to play with her used chopsticks.

"My foxes?"

"She's confused," Naruto told him.

"Oh." Inari just let it pass and waved goodbye.

"Let's go home, I'm tired," Naruto yawned, stretching himself out.

-x-

Naruto had crawled into bed and was sleeping soundly. Akira had turned back to the training ground to finish his training for today. Sasuke had brought Ren to some friend from the playground.

He was standing inside the doorpost, leaning against the frame, watching Naruto sleep. He had been standing there for quite a while now, but he didn't mind. He liked watching Naruto sleep.

Slowly the blankets rose and fell, every time joined by a soft exhale of breath; sometimes combined by a soft purr.

A small smile was plastered on Sasuke's face the entire time. He was happy having a family again, his own family to be exact, but he also liked times like this. He cherished them, being alone with Naruto; even when he was sleeping.

When Sasuke realized he was already watching Naruto sleep for over three hours he started thinking about joining him in the bed.

Thinking it was a good idea to watch Naruto sleep from up close Sasuke silently moved to the bed. Swiftly he lay down beside Naruto, on top of the blankets. Naruto didn't even twitch, he just kept sleeping.

"You make me happy," Sasuke suddenly said. He didn't really know why he said it, it just felt right.

"Hm." Naruto turned to his side, facing Sasuke.

Sasuke watched the whiskered cheeks, wanting to touch them; to feel the soft skin under his fingers. Slowly his hand moved up; from his side to his chest, from his chest to somewhere between Naruto and him. Then he stopped.

No, he shouldn't touch him. Not yet. It was good to wait, it made touching him all the better. He pulled his hand back, letting it rest against his chest.

Soft spikes moved with every breath he blew out. He started blowing them out of shape on purpose, until Naruto started twitching his ear out of annoyance. The blond moved his hand, trying to wave the cause of his annoyance away. Sasuke smirked.

When Naruto had lowered his hand, Sasuke started playing with Naruto's hair, but this time using his fingers. Golden locks of hair glided through his fingers. Playing with Naruto's hair Sasuke got lost in thought, thinking about the time they met, how they hated each other, how he only could think of Naruto as annoying and stupid. How they fought, went away. How he came back, had to start over… could start over. How he fell in love. Their first date, their first night spent together in one bed. How everything was so new, while they knew each other for such a long time. Excitement, nerves, happiness, doubts, love. He had found love with Naruto.

His hand glided from Naruto's hair, gently touching his cheek; stroking it.

Naruto accepted him, and said he felt the same way about him as he did about Naruto. They had bought a house together, lived together, day and night. It had all become normal, but it hadn't lost that special feeling it had given him the first time they had set foot in their house, or the first night they had spent together. It was still like that day he had kissed Naruto (purposely) for the first time. It had just evolved from liking, to loving, to sharing, to…

Sasuke's hand stopped stroking Naruto's face. He just watched for a while, until a smile appeared on his face.

To becoming a father; to be loved by not just that one special person, but by his own children too.

"You gave me that, Naruto," he whispered.

Slowly he moved forward, sure not to wake Naruto up, and gently kissed his soft lips.

"You guided me, and made me complete again." He closed his eyes, a smile ever present.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Sasuke quickly opened his eyes, surprised by the response he had gotten. Like in slow motion, Naruto opened his eyes, sparkling blue, deep blue, stared at him. They just looked at each other.

"I love you too," Naruto repeated.

-oXo-

A/N Vulpes: Ah, is this going where I think it is going?

A/N Argentum: I don't know; where do you think this is going?

A/N Vulpes: I was thinking- Wait a second… Argentum? How come you are talking to me? You are me; we are one person!

A/N Argentum: Just means you are talking to yourself.

A/N Vulpes: ... Not again…

A/N Argentum: Before I forget, I want to thank all reviewers and (favourites) alerts! :3 You're the best!


	19. Chapter 19: Another One?

Sorry for the long wait lately, but I'm kind of trying to become an official architect soon ;) Please keep up with the long waiting periods.

-oXo-

**Chapter 19: Another one?**

_25__th__ of October_

Sasuke and Naruto were walking over some very green grass through various colourful trees.

"I can't believe I'm really out of the village." Naruto took in every sight and sound, sniffing the air, turning his ears to every sound.

"It's a birthday present; I told you I would give you something you would like."

Naruto smiled. "I just thought you had something else in mind."

"I don't think like that all the time. You mean a lot to me, so I did my best thinking of what to give you."

Naruto squeezed in Sasuke's hand. "Thank you."

"You can thank me later."

"We're almost there?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke nodded. "Over there, you see it?"

Naruto followed Sasuke's pointing finger.

"Oh, that looks nice."

"Let's go."

Naruto smiled and followed Sasuke as he pulled him forward.

-x-

Grass softly blew around them, waving in the soft autumn breeze. It was a nice evening this late in the year. Everything was covered in dark blue; stars were shining brightly, sparkling happily. A pale crescent moon shone gently upon the two lying in the tall grass.

Softly purring, enjoying the moment alone with Sasuke, Naruto reached for the raven's hand, tangling their fingers together.

"You feel cold," he told Sasuke. Moving his arm underneath the raven until his hand rested on Sasuke's hip, he pulled him closer to his warm body.

"Uhng." Sasuke winced.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, stopping his movements of cuddling the Uchiha, and backed away a little from him.

"Nothing serious." Sasuke moved his hand so it could rest on Naruto's arm.

"You don't feel so good?" Naruto asked, seeing the look on Sasuke's face.

"I don't think that whipped cream did me much good." Sasuke rubbed his stomach.

"It didn't seem so bad to me," Naruto grinned mischievously, Stroking Sasuke's face.

"No, it wasn't that bad at all."

Naruto started to stroke Sasuke's troubled stomach softly. "Don't worry, I like taking care of you." Naruto kissed Sasuke on his temple.

"Hn," Sasuke smiled carefully.

"But next time, you should stop eating cake when I tell you to." Sasuke didn't answer. "Can't believe you actually ate that much," Naruto laughed. "You never eat too much."

"You dared me. And then when I started eating you told me not to do it. Like that would make me stop. This is your fault." Sasuke gave Naruto an exaggerated sad look, which didn't seem to fit on his face, but had it's effect nonetheless.

"I'm sorry." Naruto laid his head against Sasuke's. "Just don't feel guilty being ill."

"I don't. I like you taking care of me," was Sasuke's simple answer.

"Good."

Quietly kissing, Sasuke finally turned away and looked up to the sky. Naruto watched Sasuke for a while until he saw Sasuke's hand move up, pointing to some glistering orbs. He started to explain to Naruto which constellations he could see up in the sky.

"And those three stars, along with those," Sasuke pointed, "they form-"

"A cute little bunny rabbit with a giant axe."

Sasuke didn't say anything for a while. "Sure."

"Don't you see?" Naruto asked, pointing to the sky as well. "Like this, and those two with that one form an ear."

Sasuke really didn't see. "Hng."

Naruto turned his head to Sasuke, seeing the frown on his face as he stared at the night sky. His hair was so similar to the dark blue sky that Naruto knew for sure that the heavens had touched it when he was born, giving it its dark blue colour.

"Maybe we should get inside. It's better for you to get to bed," Naruto told Sasuke as he sat up.

"Yeah," Sasuke said, obviously not feeling well, as he his hand lay on his stomach.

Naruto was glad Sasuke could be honest when he was around. If anybody else had been here, the Uchiha would have closed himself to the outside world, and have pretended nothing was wrong.

"I'll carry you," Naruto smiled.

Sasuke looked up to Naruto as he held his hand to pull him up. "Ha!" His thin black eyebrow rose.

"I could and I will!" Naruto folded his arms around Sasuke as he stood up, but Sasuke pushed him off.

They had a small hand fight, in which Naruto ineffectively tried to somehow lift and carry Sasuke, but of course Sasuke was determined he wouldn't and so he couldn't. "Just support is fine," he finally said, not thinking that Naruto would stop otherwise.

"You're no fun," Naruto told him, crossing his arms, pouting.

"No, I don't feel okay, there's nothing fun about that," Sasuke grumbled, slightly irritated.

"I can make you some soup or something. And I'll put you to bed, tuck you in tightly… warm you up. You mustn't get cold now. And I'll make sure you feel comfortable in every way," Naruto told him proudly, wrapping his arms around the taller man.

"That sounds good."

"Indeed. Just don't worry about anything."

Arriving at a small cabin, Naruto made sure Sasuke was being taken care of in every possible way he would like to at this moment.

"Maybe I should get you some more tea," Naruto asked Sasuke while he put down some soup.

"Naruto, it's the middle of the night. All I want is you in bed next to me." Naruto turned back to the raven.

Smiling Naruto crawled into the bed, and lay down against some fluffy pillows. Sasuke shuffled closer to him so his head could rest on Naruto's chest. "Hmm," he said contently.

"Maybe…" Naruto smiled happily.

"Maybe you should-?"

"I was thinking exactly the same." Naruto bent over Sasuke and got his soup. "I didn't make this for you so it could get cold."

"Indeed."

Naruto put a spoon full of soup into his mouth. "Ah, still too hot."

"Blow first," Sasuke told him, his eyes closed as he rested against Naruto.

Naruto did so and moved the spoon over to Sasuke. "Aaah," he told the raven to open up his mouth.

Sasuke obediently opened his mouth and ate the soup.

-x-

"I wonder how they are doing," Naruto said. Sadly he got some food out of the backpack.

"Don't worry, they will be fine," Sasuke reassured him, even though he missed the kids as much as Naruto did.

"But Ren was doing much better with her chakra control recently, what if she needs you now?"

"Akira is a fine teacher too. She'll be fine."

"Yeah, you're right." Naruto got out some red meat and started eating from it.

"Eh, Naruto?"

"Hm?" Naruto looked up to Sasuke, holding the container the meet had come in under his chin, to make sure the leaking liquids from the fresh meat would fall in there.

"You're…" Sasuke looked on in awe as Naruto ripped of a piece of the meat and started chewing on it, "leaking…"

"Hn?"

Sasuke leaned in to Naruto to clean his chin with his sleeve before Naruto could go for the next bite.

"You don't want that… fried? At least a little." Sasuke never liked watching Naruto eat raw meat; not really.

"I'm fine." Naruto lowered the meat into the container. "Unless you want some too, you look a bit pale. You should eat something too."

Sasuke shook his head, "No, I'm fine. We just finished breakfast an hour ago."

Naruto shrugged, taking another bite from the meat, ripping it to shreds.

Sasuke turned to look away. He could take a lot of Naruto's strange habits, but not right now. Rubbing his stomach he looked over the magnificent view in front of them.

"I like mountains," he muttered, trying not to listen Naruto eat.

"Oooh, look at that," Naruto pointed to some bird, "it could have been one of your summons."

"Hardly," Sasuke responded. The bird slowly got closer to them, and finally started circling around their heads.

"It likes you," Naruto told Sasuke, looking up and following the circling bird.

"I think it likes your meat."

Protectively, Naruto held the last piece of meat close to him. "Shoo, go away." He waved his hand.

Sasuke couldn't help but role his eyes. "I didn't think making you leave the village would have this kind of effect on you."

"Hm?" Naruto looked to Sasuke, the meat in his mouth, sticking out and dripping some red juice.

Sasuke turned Naruto's head away. "Don't do that, it's disgusting."

Naruto stiffened up. "You think so?" he asked sadly.

"Right now, yes. We had breakfast-"

"Yes, I know, an hour ago." Naruto turned back to Sasuke. "I'm just a hungry person."

"I noticed the day we…" Sasuke didn't finish his sentence, suddenly smiling.

"The day we?" Naruto asked.

"Never mind, was just wondering off."

"The day we what? Met? Became a team? What?"

"No, never mind." Sasuke stood up. "Stupid whipped cream," he muttered, rubbing his stomach before walking off.

"Must be really bad cream, still troubling you."

"Certainly."

"So since what?"

"Let's go to that lake next." Sasuke looked down a map, ignoring Naruto's curiousness as they walked on.

"Ne, ne? Since what? Sasuke~?"

Sasuke grinned, as he pushed Naruto away.

-xXx-

"Otou-cha~n!"

Before Sasuke could even lower his backpack to the floor he was already falling behind as a blond and green force hit him in the chest; almost knocking Naruto, who stood behind him in the doorway, over as well. Naruto had quickly sidestepped, still holding the door in his hand, looking down to Sasuke and the hugging girl on his chest.

"You're home!" She started kissing him, and Naruto rolled his eyes. Stepping over the two on the floor, he walked on to find Akira reading in the living room.

Akira looked up, noticing Naruto walking in. "Hey Naruto, how was the mini-vacation?" He lowered his book onto the table where he was sitting.

"It was great," Naruto smiled, putting down his backpack and sitting down on the couch. "I would like to go away more often."

Sasuke came walking in, holding Ren in his arms, who was still firmly holding Sasuke. "You can never, NEVER, leave for this long again!" she sniffed.

"We were only gone for a week. I've been away on missions for a lot longer." Sasuke stroked her back as he walked over to the couch.

"But you were both gone!"

"I was here, all the time!" Akira muttered. "You even went with me to training."

Sasuke sat down and Naruto looked down to Ren, slightly jealous of Sasuke that she was hugging him so much and not Naruto.

"That must have been great, right Ren-chan?" he stroked her hair.

A sniff, a nod and tightening her grip on Sasuke was the answer.

"If you hadn't come home in the next fifteen minutes, I think I would have left her alone in the house," Akira said, turning back to the table, picking up his book.

"You would-?" Sasuke started, but then saw Naruto's narrowed eyes directed on him. Looking at Naruto for a moment he raised his eyebrow.

"I just meant that she was getting really annoying, asking every minute when you would be back," Akira continued as he opened his book. He didn't notice why Sasuke had really stopped talking.

"Hn."

In the meantime Naruto had understood Sasuke's raising eyebrow as a question.

His jealous look moved over to Ren for a second before he crossed his arms and turned away from the two.

The corners of Sasuke's mouth curled up, but as much as he liked Naruto being jealous, he couldn't help but slowly starting to pry the small arms around him off.

Sadly Ren looked up to him when he had succeeded this. Then he pointed to Naruto and she followed his finger. She sniffed loudly and then threw herself around Naruto's neck tightly.

"Papa!"

Naruto, nearly choking, looked around surprised to Sasuke.

Sasuke stood up and sat down beside Akira, putting an arm around the younger version of himself. He didn't say anything as he pressed Akira against him.

At first Akira looked up annoyed, then slightly angry when his father hugged him, but slowly he had to admit he didn't mind the physical contact as much as he liked to pretend.

"I'm glad you're back," he muttered softly.

Sasuke let him go, ruffled his hair and then picked up the book Akira had been reading. "Hm, I like this one."

"Ren… chan?" Naruto tried to get Ren away from his throat, but had difficulty doing so. He actually started regretting Sasuke had given her to him. "Ren-chan? Can you please…?"

Ren looked up and moved back.

One moment Naruto was looking down upon her sad face, a tear rolling down her cheek from her black eye, and the next she was smiling brightly and was gone.

Stunned Naruto looked at the spot Ren had been sitting. Then he shook his head and looked around, trying to spot her.

"She went upstairs." Sasuke handed Akira the book back.

When she came back, she held a piece of paper in her hand, and Akira began smiling as he held up the book higher to cover his face.

Sasuke saw this from the corner of his eyes.

"Look what Akira gave me!" She held up the paper, on which some sort of table was drawn with small pictures in squares of the first two rows.

"What's that?" Naruto asked as she handed him the paper. Both he and Sasuke looked down upon it.

"After every training that I did good, he gave me a sticker," she smiled.

"You are so lucky to have such a nice brother," Naruto said, handing her the paper back.

Ren nodded abundantly.

-xXx-

Ren walked beside Sasuke, holding his hand. Every now and then she glanced up to him. He was so tall, and his posture was one that impressed her. Even she could feel her father was an important person.

She liked walking with him through the village. Her walks with him were so different from the ones she took with Naruto. When she was with Naruto they mostly would go to the market or buy groceries. Even if it was a walk through the forest it was different. She would be wilder, playing most of the time, running a lot, talking to him. She was more like Naruto then.

However, right now, she was like Sasuke. She liked just walking with him. They didn't need to go anywhere specific. They didn't need to talk, just walk.

As they walked through the streets, Ren noticed a man she had seen a while ago as well. Pretending she hadn't noticed she looked up to Sasuke before stopping beside him as he looked over something in a shopping window.

Ren pretended to wait alongside him while she looked around. She noticed the man had stopped too, and was hanging against a wall.

"Let's go."

Ren looked up to see Sasuke moving on. She quickly followed him, walking up beside him.

Three streets further the man was still following them. Ren slipped her hand in Sasuke's, which made him look down.

"Otou-chan?"

Sasuke looked down and saw Ren pulling his green vest with her other hand. He lowered to her level and she immediately moved closer to him. "I think we are being followed," she whispered.

Sasuke smiled. "You noticed?"

"What does he wan-"

"Hello."

Ren stiffened up and slowly looked up to the brown haired man in front of them. Sasuke stood up and looked down upon the shorter man. He didn't say anything.

"I couldn't help but notice the two of you walking around," he smiled and looked down upon Ren, smiling at her.

Ren shuffled behind Sasuke's leg.

"Hn." Sasuke clearly wasn't interested in the man and was planning to move on, but a hand on his chest stopped him. Looking up, following the hand, the arm till he looked into the dark brown eyes, Sasuke narrowed his eyes, indicating the man better remove his hand.

The man however, didn't do so.

"I've been here for almost a week now, and I have to admit…" the man said, not removing his eyes from Sasuke's smooth face. "That I haven't really enjoyed my stay here… _thoroughly_." While he said the last word, his eyebrows shifted ever so slightly.

"That doesn't concern me," Sasuke said annoyed, trying to move away.

Again he was stopped by the man moving in front of him. He had lowered himself a little so he would catch Sasuke's downcast eyes. "Won't you lead me around? I would love to have a good guide like you."

Sasuke's nostrils widened as the annoyance became something stronger. "Come Ren," he said, ignoring the foreign man, stepping around him and walking off.

"Wait! She can come too, we can go to the playground. I'm sure your wife won't mind. I'm good with children."

Sasuke stopped and turned around, moving Ren behind him. "What did you say?"

The man gave him a sincere innocent look. "I would like it if you would tell me all about this village?" he wasn't sure what part Sasuke hadn't liked.

"What is he doing, otou-chan?" Ren asked softly, but Sasuke pushed her back so she wouldn't see.

"I don't have a wife," Sasuke said curtly, turning back to Ren and moving on.

"Oh, I'm sorry, your husband."

Sasuke kept walking.

"He doesn't need to know anything. Plus I'll be gone tomor-" Before he could finish his sentence, Sasuke was standing next to him, holding the man tightly at his collar.

He lifted the man up discretely. "You're right; he doesn't need to know anything about you, because I'm not interested in anything you have to say to me." He lowered the man again, who looked quite shocked when he saw Sasuke's face.

Sasuke wanted to move away, but turned back. "Oh, and don't try to hit on me when my girl is around. She already has two fathers, and that's enough."

He lifted his head and walked away. "Come Ren, I'll show you something." He caught her hand and made her follow him.

When Ren looked around she saw the now scared man jerkily move around and walk off. It looked quite comically to her; she had no idea how much Sasuke had scared the man.

Smiling she skipped beside Sasuke. "Did you know him?" she asked happily.

"Hm."

As they passed the last houses, walking straight for the big gate of Konoha, Ren had fallen back to her calm personality again, following Sasuke's example. She just followed him, not sure what he was up to.

"Otou-chan?" she asked when Sasuke gave a slight nod to the guards and kept walking on, passing the gates.

"Yes?"

"Where are we going?"

Sasuke looked down, smiling at her. "Just for a small walk."

"But I've never been out of Konoha before," she told him, pointing to the gate.

"It's okay, I'm here with you."

Ren smiled and gripped Sasuke's hand a little tighter, just in case.

They left the dirt road and stepped into the forest. They walked past trees, through high grass and zigzagged around bushes. Ren didn't mind, she liked it, especially when Sasuke took her on his back and jumped up into a tree, moving along that way.

Finally Sasuke jumped out of the last tree, touching the ground on some open space. There he put her down. Stone and rock was the only thing she saw around her until she noticed the water and the big waterfall. It was framed by two giant statues.

"Wow," she said softly. She reached up to Sasuke's hand again, a bit afraid being in this strange and overwhelming place. "It feels… important," she almost whispered.

"It is." Sasuke took her with him, walking over to the waterfall.

"You know who those are?" Sasuke asked, looking up to the statues.

Ren shook her head.

"This one you should be able to recognize," Sasuke said, pointing to the right statue.

Ren looked at its face for some time. "He looks a bit like the Shodai Hokage."

Sasuke smiled. "Good. It's Senju Hashirama." Then he looked over to the other one. "And that's Uchiha Madara."

Ren tilted her head. "Uchiha?" She looked up to Sasuke. "Is he family?"

"Distant." Sasuke's face turned a bit darker.

"What happened?"

"They fought each other here, creating this river and waterfall as a result."

"Wow."

Then Sasuke smiled. "I fought Naruto here too."

"You did? You fought?"

"We fought quite a bit when we were younger." Sasuke smiled at his daughter. "I guess we sometimes still do."

"Who won?"

Sasuke knelt down beside Ren. "Neither."

"It was a draw?"

"Something like that." Sasuke fell silent, and didn't say anything for quite a while, just staring onto the waterfall.

"Do we need to go?" Ren asked after a while.

Sasuke looked over to her, and figured she had been watching him all this time. "Yes, let's go."

"We go through the trees again? I really liked that!"

Sasuke's answer was a smile.

-xXx-

"Naruto?" Sasuke appeared in the bathroom, finding Naruto there, looking a bit pale as he sat beside the toilet.

"That's the second time today," Naruto mumbled.

"You're never ill."

"Almost never," Naruto corrected him.

"Not like this, not for almost a week. I think you have a fever."

Naruto sighed and laid his hand on his troubled stomach. "Don't exaggerate."

Sasuke looked down at him, and gave Naruto a stern look.

"You want to tell me it's just that you ate something wrong?" Sasuke's piercing eyes mad Naruto reconsider his initial answer.

"Alright, alright." Naruto held up his hand to Sasuke so he could pull him up.

"Well, you're lucky, Tsunade was about to come over anyway."

"Yeah, lucky me."

Sasuke helped Naruto dress and get downstairs safely. There he let him lay down on the couch before he went over to the kitchen to get Naruto some much needed food.

When Sasuke came back into the living room he placed a tray on the low table and sat down next to Naruto. "I hardly dare ask, but…" Sasuke looked over to Naruto, making sure he was looking back.

"But?" Naruto asked, leaning against Sasuke.

"Did you send a Bunshin to your office?"

"Eh…"

"Naruto, you're ill, don't go wasting chakra on something like that. It's not healthy, no wonder this illness isn't over yet; you've been doing this the entire week."

Naruto pouted, not sure how to answer. "Well…" Then he saw the food, and decided it was a good chance to change the topic. "What did you make me?"

Sasuke's eyes followed Naruto's to the bowl on the tray. "Some fruit. We have a lot of fruit, and it's good, so…"

Naruto smiled. "You miss Ren-chan."

Sasuke shuffled uncomfortably on the couch, not answering, but having fallen for Naruto's distraction the second the blonde had been mentioned.

"Ahw, Sasuke. You really do." Naruto hugged Sasuke.

"It's just-" Sasuke stopped himself.

"She's alright; you trust Kakashi-sensei and Anko, don't you?"

"Hm."

"Ren-chan has been looking out for this trip for weeks."

"I know," Sasuke said almost miserably.

"She'll be home soon," Naruto assured Sasuke.

Sasuke sighed. "I'm just so used to her being home every day."

Naruto started rubbing Sasuke's back. "She deserves a little vacation. Besides, it's not like it never happened before that you didn't see her for over two weeks. You even take on month-long missions."

"Because you give them to me."

"Come on Sasuke, cheer up. You can feed me," Naruto grinned, pointing to the bowl of fruit.

Sasuke had to think this over for exactly 2 seconds. He took the bowl and chopsticks from the tray, and picked some piece of apple from it, moving it over to Naruto.

Still looking somewhat pale, Naruto opened his mouth to accept the food.

After a while Naruto looked up to Sasuke. "Doesn't this make you feel better?"

"Hn."

"It makes me feel better."

Right then a knock on the front door sounded before it opened. Both Naruto and Sasuke looked up as Tsunade came walking inside.

"Hey gaki, Uchiha," she greeted.

"You don't have to call me Hokage, but calling me by my name would be fine," Naruto muttered as he rejected some banana Sasuke tried to give him.

"You're still not feeling fine? I told you I can take over as temporary Hokage whe-"

"I know, I know, but I didn't want to stay home-"

"So you just send a Bunshin, gaki?" Tsunade gave him a piercing look. "Tell me what is wrong." Her hands were already pulling up his shirt and checking him over.

Not having the strength to push her warm hands away, Naruto looked at her and sighed. He had expected her to do something like this. "It actually feels like-" He stopped and looked over to Sasuke. "Like it does on the 18th of October."

"But that's already been three months ago."

"I know, but besides being nauseous all the time and feeling like a wet towel, my stomach hurts, just like then. I can't help it."

Tsunade stopped moving her hands and let them rest on his stomach. "Right here?" she asked, not showing anything on her face.

"Yes, how did you-?"

"Naruto." She looked up to his eyes; brown meeting blue.

Sasuke watched them for a moment, and then suddenly, "no," he said softly, his eyes wide.

Naruto looked up to Sasuke, sitting on his other side. "What?"

"That can't be, right?" Sasuke asked Tsunade, who was still looking at Naruto.

She nodded. "I also thought the jutsu was over, but it might explain why you still have stomach aches every October 18th."

"What?" Naruto asked again, but this time his voice showed he was beginning to understand. "Jutsu…? Wait... No... But... Why...?" He gasped and a soft blush appeared on his pale face as he looking down. He understood the 'why' suddenly.

"I thought so," Tsunade said. "You never had sex before on that day, have you?" Naruto seemed unable to speak or even look up, so Tsunade turned her head to Sasuke.

"No."

"But-b..." Naruto grasped his hands in his hair. "No, I don't want... no..."

"Naruto I just felt the same chakra inside you as four years ago," Tsunade told him, sounding a bit sad as she heard the heart-breaking tone Naruto had used.

"No, it can't be..."

Sasuke shuffled closer to Naruto, sitting almost against him. He folded an arm around him. "It's alright, this time we know what will happen."

"That's why... I don't..." Naruto actually sounded a bit afraid.

"Naruto, everything will be okay," Tsunade told him. "We still have all the information from last time; we will make use of it, and try to make things better this time."

"But..." Naruto seemed to stress out a little.

"You know it can't be removed," Tsunade told him. "It's too late, perhaps in the first week, but not after three months."

Silence fell and only Naruto's erratic breathing could be heard.

All he could think of was the pain it had caused him last time and the... inconvenience. One time was enough of that. He had been fine with it being onetime thing.

He loved Ren, but he could seriously have died, and he had... twice! He didn't want to leave them behind. He wasn't ready yet. He was finally Hokage and had a family. He couldn't even start to explain in words what he felt when he thought of his family. It was more than he could ever have hoped for. He was happy. Extremely happy.

He was afraid. The thought of having another baby scared him.

Sasuke pressed Naruto against his chest. "It will be alright."

Tsunade looked on how Sasuke tried to comfort Naruto, his hand make gentle motions of comfort on Naruto's back, his other hand resting in the back of the blond's neck.

"Don't worry Naruto," she said, unable to watch Naruto being so sad. "This time will be different." She stood up and laid her hand on top of Naruto's blond spikes. "You'll come to realize soon enough that this is something wonderful."

She walked away, heading for the Hokage tower. "Make sure he eats well," she told Sasuke before she closed the door.

Sasuke felt his shirt had gotten wet as he heard some sniffing.

-x-

Gloomily, Naruto stared out the window, not having said anything the entire morning or afternoon.

Sasuke was beginning to worry Naruto might have lost his tongue or something. It just wasn't normal for Naruto to be quiet this long. He wasn't even this quiet when sleeping. And being ill didn't make him look any better either.

Standing in the doorway Sasuke was thinking of a way to cheer Naruto up, watching him sit curled up in a blanket.

"You want to talk about it?" He finally asked, walking over to sit beside his troubled lover.

"Not really."

Sasuke didn't like this. "But you need to talk."

"Why?" Naruto wasn't even turning around to look at Sasuke; he just sat there.

"Because I can't stand it that you are so quiet," Sasuke told Naruto honestly.

Naruto didn't answer for a while, making Sasuke wonder if he even would answer at all.

Finally Naruto's voice sounded softly. "Isn't that something you would like me to-"

"No."

This made Naruto turn around.

"I like you being active and talkative."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding."

"Of course not. I honestly mean it." Sasuke shrugged. "It's true I would like you to be quiet and sit still every once in a while, but…" Sasuke trailed off.

A small smile appeared on Naruto's face. "I like it when you don't know what to say." He hugged Sasuke.

"Hn."

"Teme."

Sasuke grinned. "Dobe."

"You mean Hokage," Naruto mumbled into Sasuke's shirt.

"Alright, Hokage, do I need to feed you again, or do you think you can eat by yourself this time?" Sasuke asked, holding up a bowl of ramen.

Naruto grumbled. "I can eat it…" He looked up to Sasuke innocently. "But I won't mind you feeding me."

"Good," Sasuke smirked.

-oXo-

A/N: I really apreciate all the reviews I get! Perhaps you would like to tell me where you think this is going? For inspiration ^^


	20. Chapter 20: Another One!

**Chapter 20: Another one!**

_20__th__ of January _

Naruto stretched out as he had been sitting behind his desk for way too long. His back ached from sitting in the same position all day, and his hand hurt from writing.

"Let's call it a day," he said to himself. He pushed himself from behind his desk and stood up.

"This can't be healthy." His hand went to his sore neck. "Ouch." He grimaced and walked over to the window.

As he looked over a sleeping village, dark, every now and then a light still on in a house, his thoughts wondered. He still remembered the day he had become Hokage. He had definitely not seen it coming. It had taken him a few weeks before he was able to fully realize Tsunade's words. It was when he pulled on the red and white robes for the inauguration ceremony he finally realize that he really was Hokage.

And now, a few years later, he thought it was funny. He had believed he would be Hokage for such a long time, had told countless people he would protect his village, be the best shinobi. And when he had finally become it, he couldn't believe it.

Naruto laughed to himself. Unconsciously his hand moved to his stomach.

Suddenly Naruto noticed some movement far below him. He stepped closer to the window to have a better look.

A dark figure was moving in the shadows. It was sneaking around like it was searching for something. It was really dark, so Naruto couldn't really see what the figure was really doing.

He had to press his nose to the window to see better, but it still wasn't enough. It looked like it was taking things out of a box or something.

Not interested in the figure below any longer, Naruto turned around and rested against the glass. He had tried not to think about it for a whole week, tried to ignore everything like nothing had happened, but he knew he couldn't. He couldn't ignore it any longer. He had tried, but he knew he _shouldn't_.

Ren would come home tomorrow. He needed to get this over with; otherwise Kakashi would surely notice something was going on.

Slowly he lowered to the ground, lost in thought. He remembered how shocked he had been the last time when they had told him he would have a baby. The only good thing this time was that he wasn't as shocked as back then. He had never expected it to happen again. He was sure the jutsu was a onetime thing, but knowing this had happened before, made him able to think more clearly about it.

He thought back of all the pain, the cramps, the moving…

"I don't want to have enormous nosebleeds again," he muttered, lowering his head onto his arms. "Though that is the least bit of my worries." He was Hokage now; he needed to take care of a village, his village. He couldn't take it easy like last time. Fortunately his team didn't need their sensei to go on missions; they were a wonderful team now. He was so proud of them. They were a real team, a terrific team.

Would he be able to leave that all behind? A team, friends, family, lover? He wasn't afraid of dying, not even of the pain. He was afraid of what he might leave behind. He had everything he wanted in his life. This was what he had been working for. He didn't want to leave it behind, just like his parents had done. It seemed too hard to do. Impossible.

Suddenly Naruto laughed, sadly. Sasuke would kick his ass if he knew what Naruto was thinking right now. Naruto was sure of it. It was like Sasuke had accepted the situation already. It hadn't even taken him a week to do that. He seemed more cheerful than usual. Or maybe Naruto was just too sad and angry to see what was really going on?

He was certain of one thing though; Sasuke was there for him, like he always was. He would be there by his side. And so were Akira, and Ren.

Naruto smiled and lifted his head. "I should stop being sad."

He looked up to the clock and noticed it was way past midnight. "I better head home."

-x-

Softly, without making any sound, Naruto crawled into the bed, hugging Sasuke from behind.

"Hn, you're late," Sasuke mumbled sleepily.

"Sorry."

"You should take it easy now. You shouldn't…" Sasuke muttered the last part, so that Naruto couldn't understand it.

"Don't worry. I'll take better care of myself from now on." Naruto nuzzled Sasuke's back. "I'm not alone."

"You're never alone," Sasuke said sleepily.

That was not what Naruto had meant. His hand stroked his stomach before it wrapped around Sasuke. "You're stupid."

"Dobe," was the automatic response. It became quiet.

Sasuke had almost fallen asleep, when Naruto suddenly started talking again.

"Sasuke?"

"What?" came the sleep-filled reply.

"I'm still afraid."

Sasuke turned around, facing Naruto.

"But I'm not sad or angry anymore."

Sasuke smiled. "It's alright to be afraid." He felt Naruto hug him, so Sasuke returned the hug.

After a while Sasuke closed his eyes again, as did Naruto. This felt good.

"But after this one..." Naruto said softly, and Sasuke opened his eyes. "Not ever again."

Sasuke pulled Naruto closer. "I promise you won't have to. I wouldn't want you to go through this again, not if you don't want to."

"I don't. It's not like I'm not grateful for Ren-chan being born, but..."

"I understand. Besides, three is a nice number," Sasuke smiled.

"Two was also fine." Naruto grasped Sasuke's shirt and possibly pressed himself even closer to his chest. "But I guess three is good, yes."

"Maybe we can upgrade it to four."

"What?" Naruto pushed Sasuke away.

"I was joking," Sasuke said.

"No you weren't. You don't joke around."

Sasuke moved his hands over Naruto's arms. "Okay, maybe I wasn't joking."

Naruto's mouth fell open. "You're horny at a time like this?"

"Maybe," was Sasuke answer as he started kissing Naruto's soft skin.

"Well I'm not; I just told you I'm afraid."

"I'll make it go away," Sasuke told him between kisses.

"Just keep it to kissing," Naruto murmured, actually liking what Sasuke was doing.

"We'll see."

"No we won't."

Sasuke didn't reply.

"This is all your fault." Naruto closed his eyes.

-xXx-

Sasuke watched Naruto as he sat on the couch. He hadn't talked to Sasuke all afternoon since he had gotten home.

"You're angry with me?" he asked as he sat down next to Naruto.

"No," Naruto mumbled. "Maybe."

"Will you let me in on this?" Sasuke tried.

"Hm." Naruto huffed and crossed his arms.

Sasuke turned to sit normally and slowly got a book. He would just wait.

And wait… and wait.

When Naruto still hadn't said a word for three hours Sasuke couldn't help himself, Naruto was _always_ the first one to speak, so now that he didn't, he couldn't help but ask. "Why are you mad at me?"

Naruto turned his head away from the television. "Hm?" he asked, his eyebrows lifting.

"Why are you mad at me?" Sasuke asked again.

"Oh," Naruto said, and it seemed like he was thinking. "Oh, yes, I remember."

"Remem- you forgot?"

Naruto shrugged. "Happens sometimes." He crossed his arms again, looking angry.

Sasuke finally understood how Naruto had been able to keep quiet for this long…

Supressing the urge to roll his eyes he moved forward onto the couch. "You're still not going to tell me?"

"I think it is _you_ who should tell _me_ something."

Sasuke's eyebrows rose. "Me?"

"Yes."

Sasuke thought this over. "About…" He couldn't think of anything.

Naruto saw the look on Sasuke's face. "Oh, come on."

"I really don't know what you are talking about," Sasuke said.

"Then you can get a good night of sleep, and maybe you'll remember tomorrow." Naruto got the remote and turned the television off. "I'm going to bed." He yawned and stretched out as he stood up. "I'm tired." He walked off.

Suddenly it hit Sasuke what Naruto might be angry about. He sighed and pulled his hand through his hair.

When he came upstairs, he found Naruto lying in bed, curled up in all the blankets.

Carefully he stepped into the bed and tried to uncurl and separate Naruto from the blankets, but Naruto wasn't really cooperating.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said, pulling the blanket.

"Sure," came the muffled sound.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but we really need to see her."

"You could have said that to me."

"I have; a couple of times." Sasuke sighed softly. "It's been over a week since we know." Sasuke finally unrolled Naruto, and quickly caught him in his arms before he got away.

"Let go."

"Naruto, you need to see Tsunade," Sasuke said softly.

Naruto stopped moving. He kept quiet for some time. "I know, but…" he finally mumbled.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine."

"Stop saying that. You don't know."

Now Sasuke got angry. He turned Naruto around and made him look up. "It will!" he said angrily. Naruto was taken aback by Sasuke's reaction. "You should stop worrying and start being happy, like you always are."

Naruto blinked. "I am-"

"No, you're not. Ever since we found out, you have been sulking and more quiet than usual. You pretend to be fine, but you can't fool me, and you should know. It actually hurts me that you think you can."

Naruto's face fell.

Sasuke slowly moved his hand up to start stroking Naruto's face. "It will really be alright. I know this is hard for you, and that it takes some time to get used to again, but don't think bad of what happened."

Naruto looked up to Sasuke. He started playing with Sasuke's shirt. Sasuke pulled Naruto against his chest protectively.

Naruto could feel and hear Sasuke's heart beating, slowly and reassuringly.

"I'll be happy again," Naruto said into Sasuke's chest. "I will." His tail curled up above the blankets.

Sasuke smiled, stroking Naruto's hair and ears. "That's all I want."

-x-

"So you haven't felt uncomfortable since that one week?" Tsunade asked Naruto.

Naruto glared at Tsunade. "No."

Tsunade looked up surprised. "That's bad?" she asked, watching Naruto's frown.

"No, it's just that…" His tail swept behind him. "I've only felt ill and uncomfortable that one week that I was ill."

Tsunade didn't understand. "So?"

"So… I could just have been ill just for that one week, just ill, nothing more, nothing less."

Tsunade wasn't sure she understood. "You _were_ ill that week."

"Exactly. I was ill."

Sasuke shook his head. "He means that if you had just told him he was sick, you wouldn't have examined him."

"Aha, and you wouldn't have known about the pregnanc-"

"Don't," Naruto warned, "try to act like this is normal."

Tsunade frowned. "It isn't. I don't think you would normally have been ill for a whole week. You were ill because your resistance was low." Tsunade stared at Naruto, making sure he was looking back. "_Because_ of the pregnancy. It probably made you a little more vulnerable to illnesses than you usually are."

"Hm." Naruto crossed his arms.

"It's a good thing though, because if we had discovered this later you or the foetus might have been in a worse condition."

Sasuke looked up worried. "It's not alright now?"

Tsunade shook her head. "I had expected Naruto didn't want to come by for a check-up very soon, so I started reading the notes of last time. Back then you didn't start feeling well because you needed some extra hormones."

Tsunade and Sasuke both looked over to Naruto, who still stood far away from the observation table. "Oh." Naruto's eyes darted from the one to the other. "So?"

"That's why I'm so surprised you are feeling so well."

"It's different this time," Naruto said softly.

"It seems so," Tsunade said, hoping Naruto would come a little closer when she took a step aside so his path to the table was more open.

"No," Naruto shook his head, "I meant a lot different."

Tsunade frowned. "What do you mean?"

Naruto looked up. "Until now everything has been different. It wasn't the jutsu of that doctor that did this," Naruto said, pointing to his stomach, "it was him," he pointed to Sasuke. Tsunade grinned while Sasuke frowned. "Plus this has happened before; I can tell it's different this time."

"In what way?" Sasuke asked, not sure what Naruto wanted to say, but he somehow had the same feeling. He couldn't tell what or why exactly, but he too just knew that this pregnancy was different this time.

Naruto shrugged. "It just is. It feels like…" He bit his lip, thinking of how to say. He wasn't good putting these kinds of things into words. "I don't know. Like I know… Like my body knows how to handle this…" Naruto sighed. "I just know," he said slightly confused, hating it that he didn't know exactly why himself.

"Come sit down, then I can check if it really is different." Tsunade walked over to the table, folding her arms.

It took a moment, but finally Naruto shuffled closer. He stared at the table for a moment longer before he turned around and sat down on top of it. "Just…" Naruto shifted on the table.

"Just be serious?" Tsunade asked. "You know I am-"

"That's not what I wanted to say."

"Then what?" Tsunade motioned for him to lift his shirt.

Naruto didn't comply. "Just be honest."

Tsunade stared at him, as did Sasuke.

"You know she is." Sasuke walked over to the table to stand beside Naruto.

"I didn't want to say that."

Sasuke and Tsunade exchanged looks. "Then what did you mean to say?" Tsunade asked, motioning to him again to lift his shirt.

Still Naruto didn't move. "I wanted to say that…"

Sasuke and Tsunade waited for Naruto to continue, which he didn't. He suddenly lifted up his shirt and lay back. "Never mind." He turned his head away from them and waited for Tsunade to start prodding him.

Tsunade and Sasuke looked at each other again before Tsunade leant over Naruto. She started pushing softly into his stomach.

"If it hurts-"

"I'll let you know," Naruto said a little grumpily.

As Tsunade did her job, Sasuke walked around the table to lean down on the other side of the table. He lowered himself until he was on eye level with the blue orbs. "What is it?" he asked softly.

"It's just…"

Sasuke waited patiently, he knew Naruto would have to say it sooner or later.

"I'll start pushing a bit harder," Tsunade let Naruto know.

"Sure." Somehow Naruto couldn't look away from Sasuke. He sighed again and Sasuke knew that it was finally coming; he would talk.

"Why me?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "What?"

Tsunade stopped her movements.

"Why me and not you?" Naruto asked stubbornly.

"Uh." Sasuke had no idea.

"Why you?" Tsunade asked. "You did so last time. I wouldn't know why it wouldn't be you. Why would Sasuke be-?" Her voice died down. "Ohhh," she started grinning. "Hadn't expected that."

Naruto was instantly as red as his coat. "What do you mean 'hadn't expected that'?" He asked, sitting up.

Tsunade tried not to laugh when she saw the look on Naruto's face. "No, I just thought…" she trailed off.

Naruto looked angrily at her, his ears lowering, and was even about to stand up, but Sasuke kept him in place. "Don't mind her, let's just get this over w-"

"No! Does everybody think this? Do they just assume…?" Naruto now turned his angry glare to Sasuke, crossing his arms.

"It's not true then?" Tsunade asked. Naruto had turned back so quickly and had such a fowl look on his face that Tsunade actually took a step back. "Sorry, sorry," she apologized. "I was just teasi-"

"No, you were not."

They sat there like this for a while, Naruto glaring at Tsunade, and Tsunade not daring to step closer yet; until Sasuke had enough of this.

"I think the jutsu had set roles upon us, so to say, and that it stays like that. That is why."

Naruto looked around, dropping his scowl. "What do you mean 'roles'?"

"You're the one that can carry children, you proved so last time that you could, and I'm the one that wants to protect and seduce you. I will protect the offspring."

Naruto stared at Sasuke, not believing he had just said that… admitted that.

"You feel like doing so right now too?" Tsunade asked seriously.

Naruto looked around to Tsunade, not believing she was serious when Sasuke told her something like that, but when he had said something similar she had started laughing…

"Yes," Sasuke admitted. "For some time now. I just didn't realize it yet. Not really."

"Hm, interesting," Tsunade nodded, bringing her hand to her chin.

"You're not going to '_tease'_ him?" Naruto asked indignantly.

"Tease? Why?"

All Naruto could do was stare with a surprised look on his face, his ears standing up.

"He was serious about this," Tsunade explained.

"So was I when I asked why it was me!"

"But we all know Sasuke is like this. It's just logical this would happen. I just had never expected you two… turn rolls every now and then."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, grumbling softly at her. "Just do your work," he muttered, lying down again.

Tsunade couldn't help but grin at Naruto's reaction.

After some uncomfortable prodding, Tsunade spoke again. "It's very much the same as last time; the womb is protecting the foetus very well."

"And?" Sasuke asked impatiently, making Tsunade look up to him. "Is it alright?" Sasuke inquired.

"Yes, everything seems fine. About the right size for 15 weeks. Everything is stable. You are not in any pain, you're chakra is steady. Even your hormones are in balance, so my conclusion can only be that I will need to see you again next week."

"Really? That's all?"

Tsunade smiled. "No, I need to show you…" Tsunade had already turned around and put on the ultrasound machine.

Sasuke stood up to take a better look at the screen. Naruto noticed how eager he was.

"So in the meantime that it's starting up, Sasuke, how do you feel?" Tsunade asked, pushing some buttons.

"Fine," Sasuke answered.

"Not feeling ill, or headaches, dizziness, feeling tired or-"

"No, I feel fine." He didn't say 'just hurry up', but it felt like he did.

Tsunade smiled. "Good." Tsunade held up a tube.

"Oh, no," Naruto tried to sit up, "I had forgotten about that."

Sasuke pushed him down. "You're a man, you can handle it."

Naruto gave Sasuke an irritable look.

Tsunade put the cold gel on Naruto's stomach, who shuddered at the first touch of the liquid.

When Tsunade was done teasing Naruto, she got the transducer to show them the first image of their unborn child.

Sasuke had finally found Naruto's hand, and was watching the monitor intently; expectantly. Naruto noticed so, and for the first time that day he smiled. He finally understood what Sasuke was feeling. When finally Tsunade showed them the right image, Naruto couldn't help but be happy too.

"He looks fine," Sasuke almost whispered.

"He?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shrugged.

"It's too early to tell the gender," Tsunade told them.

"I don't even want to know," Naruto said.

"What?" Sasuke asked surprised.

"And neither will you," Naruto told the raven.

"I don't?" Sasuke asked a little taken aback.

"No. I don't want this whole 'it might be a girl that dies or a boy that lives' shit this time. We're better off not knowing."

Sasuke seemed to disagree. "I would like to-"

"No! I'm carrying it, and I say no."

A short staring contest went on between the two, but eventually Naruto won (which was quite a surprise to Tsunade).

"Hm."

Naruto turned to Tsunade. "I don't care if you know, but you will not tell anyone, not even Sakura-chan."

"Not Sakura?"

"No, I just know she will need to tell someone one day, and that will not be me because I don't want to know." Naruto looked over to Sasuke. "And I don't want him to know."

Sasuke frowned.

"That's alright, it's normal to keep it a surprise," Tsunade said.

"But-" Sasuke tried once more.

"Sasuke," Naruto stopped Sasuke by taking his other hand. "I know you are excited about this, and I'm not sure if it's just you or also the jutsu doing this to you, but I really don't want us to know. I don't want to be uncertain all the time." He stopped. "Please, for me?"

Sasuke stared into Naruto's blue orbs, almost losing himself in there. He looked up to the screen before looking back and giving his answer. "Okay."

Naruto smiled. "Thank you."

-oXo-


	21. Chapter 21: Getting Excited

**Chapter 21: Getting excited**

_2__nd__ February _

"Ren-chan, finish your food," Naruto told the girl, who stood in the doorway to the living room.

Ren turned around. "But I am done."

"There's still some food on your plate."

Ren pouted. "But I don't like plums."

"You need to finish it," Naruto said sternly.

Slowly Ren shuffled back to her chair, looking at her feet as she did so. Sadly she climbed up her chair, still pouting. She missed Akira, he was away on a mission, but he always ate her plums.

Sasuke was still amazed he hadn't needed to tell Ren to finish her food, because Naruto had done that.

Angrily the small blonde stared at the three evil plums. Maybe she could convince Naruto she didn't needed to eat them. She could always easily persuade him when it came to cleaning her plate. "I really don't like them. I'll eat something else instead?" She looked up to him with sad, cute eyes.

"It's good for you to eat them," Naruto said, indicating for her to start eating.

Ren didn't move for a moment. It wasn't working? Maybe he hadn't heard her well enough?

"I'll eat some… thing el-" Her voice died down as she saw Naruto's look. Slowly she took her chopsticks from the table, and started moving the pieces of plum over her plate.

"Rolling them around your plate won't make them smaller." Naruto stood up, and within a couple of steps had moved around the table, standing next to Ren.

When Ren still didn't eat, Naruto got impatient. "Eat up, or I'll feed them to you."

"I don't want to eat them," Ren said stubbornly, still not believing Naruto actually wanted to make her eat them.

"Hurry up, I need to leave."

"Where to?" she asked.

"To Tsunad- don't change the subject." She had almost tricked him into changing the subject.

"Why do I need to hurry then?"

"I thought you had said you wanted to come along."

Suddenly Ren's eyes widened. "This is the surprise?"

Naruto nodded. Then Ren looked over to Sasuke for confirmation (Naruto might just want to trick her into eating her food, which he did more often). Sasuke smiled at her, confirming it was true.

Quickly Ren picked up a dreaded piece of the fruit, closed her eyes, and ate it.

"Good girl," Naruto told her when she put the next piece into her mouth, looking like she was eating a snail.

When she finished it, Naruto picked up the last piece and ate it. "Let's go."

Smiling, Ren hurried over to the hall and started putting on her sandals.

Sasuke and Naruto still stood in the kitchen. "You sure you're ready to let her know?" Sasuke asked while the two of them cleaned the table. "Like this?"

Naruto put down the plates on the counter. "Well, I must say it makes me nervous."

"I can tell her if you want me to?"

"We discussed this before. We'll tell her like this. I want her to know…" Naruto looked up to Sasuke as he put a jar in the cabinet. When Sasuke closed the cabinet he looked at Naruto too.

"She will understand. She's smart."

"That's why I want her to know why this is different than usual."

"Are you ready? Weren't we late? Let's go!" Ren came running into the kitchen, jacket on, jumping up and down.

"Yes, we're coming," Naruto smiled uncomfortably, following her to the front door.

Before Naruto walked away from the house, Sasuke took his hand. It made Naruto look up. When he saw the slight hint of a smile on Sasuke's face, he knew enough.

Ren darted around the two, running back and forth, circling around them, not knowing where they were going.

"Where will Tsunade be? Where are we going?" she kept asking.

They didn't answer her, knowing full well that if they did she wouldn't want to go anymore; but as they neared the hospital, Sasuke decided he should tell her. "To the hospital."

Suddenly Ren stopped walking and turned around. "Why?" she asked uncertainly.

"It's not for you," Naruto reassured her.

"It's something fun, remember?" Sasuke said, making Naruto give him a questioning look.

"Oh, yeah." Slowly Ren came into motion again, but this time walking on a safe distance behind her fathers; just in case. She carefully watched their backs, making sure she wasn't being deceived.

When they stepped through the hospital entrance, Sakura just came waddling in too.

"Wow, you look…" Naruto drifted off as he looked at a very pregnant Sakura.

"I know. It's time for her to come out."

"Sakura no oba-chan!" Ren smiled at Sakura, reaching up to her round belly.

"Hello, Ren-chan." Sakura smiled as she felt the small hands touch her. "I was just going to Tsunade for a check-up," Sakura told Ren.

"We are going to Tsunade-sama too!" Ren told her, surprised.

Sakura reached for Ren's hand. "Let's go together then." Sakura turned her head around to Sasuke and Naruto and winked. She had been asked by Naruto to come here today.

Ren smiled and walked away beside Sakura.

"How are you doing Ren-chan? Feeling better?"

"I do! Otou-san helps me feel chakra and I'm not ill that often, I feel good. Satake said that-" Ren started a story.

Sasuke and Naruto followed the two chatting girls. Sasuke caught Naruto staring at Sakura. "Naruto?"

"Hm?" Naruto didn't took his eyes off Sakura.

"It will be alright. She'll understand."

"Yeah, I know."

They neared Tsunade's personal office. The two blonds nervously looked around, each for their own reason.

"Come Ren-chan, I'll show you the baby."

Ren looked up. "You will?" Sakura nodded.

They all entered Tsunade's office.

"Hello everyone; sit down Sakura." Tsunade pointed to the observation table. "Hello Ren, good to see you again."

Ren smiled shyly, still not comfortable being in this room. "Hello." She quickly went to stand closer to Naruto.

"You had a good vacation with Sakumo I heard."

"I did," Ren said softly, grabbing Naruto's leg. She didn't like the combination of people on this location.

"Why don't you sit down next to Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked her.

Ren looked up to Naruto, then Sasuke, and back. "Will you…?" Her eyes turned down to the ground and she leant against Naruto's leg. "Sit there too?"

Naruto didn't answer for a moment. He looked over to Sasuke, who nodded, and then looked back to Ren. "Okay."

Naruto sat down beside Sakura. Sasuke lifted Ren up and placed her on Naruto's lap. Then he sat down beside them.

"Otou-chan too?" Ren asked, feeling safer by the second. Sasuke nodded.

Sakura looked over to Tsunade. She had no idea what made Naruto so nervous about this all, but she could see how Sasuke held his hand reassuringly. He had told her they wanted Ren to know a little more about babies. Sakura thought she already knew enough, but could tell from the look on Naruto's face when he asked her that it was important to him. So she had said yes.

Sakura lifted her sweater so Tsunade could make an echo.

When finally the image of a baby appeared on the black and white screen, Ren took a breath. "Is that her?"

"Yes," Sakura confirmed happily.

"It looks uncomfortable."

Sakura laughed. "That's why she will get out soon."

"Aha."

Tsunade looked over to Naruto and Sasuke, waiting for them to continue to the topic they came here for, but Ren wasn't done asking questions yet.

"What do I look like from the inside, and otou-chan, and papa?" she asked, already showing her belly to Tsunade. Sakura started laughing at her innocence.

And so Tsunade showed Ren how she looked from the inside, though Ren obviously didn't knew what Tsunade was showing her even if she tried to explain it all. All that mattered to Ren was that she could "see inside" herself.

"And now otou-chan!" she asked happily, wiggling around on Naruto's lap.

Ren helped Sasuke get his shirt up, and got permission from Tsunade to put the gel on his stomach. Happily she smeared it all over.

Finally she could see the image on the screen. "Looks similar, doesn't it?" She asked while looking at the blurs.

"Indeed," Sakura told her. "We are all very much the same on the inside."

"Can I hold the stick?" Ren asked, pointing to Tsunade's hand.

"It's called a transducer." Tsunade handed Ren the device.

"Should I press?" Ren asked.

"Not too hard," Sasuke told her

As they watched Ren move the transducer over Sasuke's stomach, Naruto began to get more and more nervous.

How would Ren take the information? Would she be happy to get a baby brother or sister? Or would she not understand? And Sakura, she didn't know yet. Maybe the womb was already making it difficult to see the foetus? Last time everything was fine, but…

Ren was now actually more playing around with the transducer, teasing Sasuke, rather than watching the monitor. Giggling she tried to move the device higher up Sasuke's torso, while he tried to keep his shirt down and tickle her.

When he saw Naruto stare at the screen, sitting a little bit too stiff, Sasuke thought it was better to stop Ren.

"That was me," he said, which made Ren look up and stop her movements.

"Okay. Papa is last," she smiled.

Sasuke got off most of the gel and took Ren from Naruto so she could sit on his lap instead.

"Papa?" Ren asked, pulling at Naruto's orange shirt.

"Ah, yes, sorry." Slowly Naruto got his shirt up, and once again Ren handled the gel.

Suddenly Ren stopped her movements and looked up to Naruto. "Is papa not happy?" she asked.

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "I am, I am." He smiled with a nervous edge to it.

Ren didn't move and observed the people in the room. "What is the surprise?" she suddenly asked, tilting her head.

"This is all part of the surprise," Sasuke told her.

"I could see the baby and our insides?" Ren asked, smiling.

"Yes."

Sakura laid her hand on Naruto's shoulder and leant closer to his ear. "You alright?"

Naruto nodded. "I will be when this is over."

Sakura frowned, not sure what Naruto had meant. Maybe he was afraid to start the subject? Sakura looked around Naruto to Ren. "Ren-chan," she looked up to Sakura, "do you know where babies come from?"

Naruto and Sasuke looked over to Sakura, shock on their faces. Sakura didn't understand. They wanted her to know, why then were they surprised about what she had just asked Ren?

"I do!" Ren said happily. "From there." She pointed to Sakura's stomach.

Both Sasuke and Naruto let out a breath in relief.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. Then why had she needed to come here, if they weren't about to tell where babies come from?

"So let's see what's inside papa," Sasuke said, moving Ren's hand over to Naruto, trying to skip the explanation part that belonged to the subject just being adressed.

Ren and Sasuke moved the transducer over to Naruto. In the meantime Naruto was able to give Sakura a warningly stare. "What were you thinking? She's 4!" He whispered to her.

Sakura was speechless. And confused, until…

"What is that?" Ren asked suddenly, pointing to the screen.

Turning their eyes to the screen, except for Naruto, Sakura was finally able to understand what was going on.

"Oh my…" she whispered. It took her a minute to realize what this meant. "Oh haha! That's wonderful," she started smiling, bringing her hands up. Then she hugged Naruto, which made him move and the image on the screen was lost. "That this could happen again! I'm so happy for the two of you." Sakura laid her hand on Sasuke's shoulder, he returned a broad smile.

"What is happening?" Ren asked confused.

Sakura let go of Naruto. "Find it again," she told Sasuke. So he did.

As the image of a small shape appeared on the screen again, Sakura mentioned to the monitor. "You see that Ren-chan?"

Ren nodded. "But what is it? It looks like papa ate a bean." Silence fell for a minute.

"Eh, no," Sakura told Ren. "Freeze it, Tsunade, show her."

Tsunade smiled at Sakura's enthusiasm, and did what she was asked.

"Can you see it now?" Sakura asked Ren when the image had become clearer to see-

"Is that a baby?"

"You know what that means?" Sasuke asked Ren, who looked around to Sasuke. Ren shook her head. "That you will have a little baby sister or brother soon."

Ren turned back to Naruto and looked up to him. He smiled uncertainly at her. "A little brother or sister?" she asked softly.

Naruto nodded. The next thing he knew was that Ren's small hands were touching his stomach. "Very little," she said.

Suddenly Naruto started laughing. "It will still grow. Just like Sakura-chan's baby."

"Until it becomes uncomfortable."

Sakura started laughing too, rubbing her belly.

"You can say that," Naruto muttered softly, eyeing Sakura.

"I'm going to have a little brother or sister?" Ren asked again, not being able to believe it.

"Isn't it exciding?" Sasuke asked her, hugging her.

"It is! I'll be a big sister."

"You will be."

Ren and Sasuke smiled. It made them look rather cute, Naruto thought.

"Thank you papa!"

Sasuke folded his arm around Naruto. "Yes, thank you," he whispered to Naruto.

-xXx-

Sasuke happily walked through the house, smiling. They had just visited Sakura and Sai and their little baby girl. It had made Sasuke remember how it was when Ren was born. He was actually looking forward to doing it again. It made him happy thinking of it.

When he had seen a proud Sakura and Sai holding their two week old small pink haired daughter, Sasuke had looked over to Naruto. He was finally accepting what was going on. He had seemed really happy. The fear would not leave, Sasuke knew, but he was really happy again.

"We could have known her name would be Kiku or something similar," Naruto told Sasuke as he started making some sandwiches.

"Chrysanthemum," Sasuke said.

"It would have been weird if she hadn't had Sakura's hair colour," Naruto said.

"It was a little darker actually."

Naruto turned around to Sasuke. "You sure paid a lot of attention."

Sasuke hugged Naruto. "I did."

Naruto kissed Sasuke. "You really have been in a good mood ever since…" Naruto started counting in his head, though Sasuke thought Naruto had finished his sentence.

"It just makes me happy to think of a little baby in my arms."

Naruto grinned. "If you would let me go now; we're hungry, and I'm tired."

"That's what your day off is for." Sasuke let go off Naruto.

Tsunade had ordered Naruto to take a day off at least once a week. She would fill in his place. He didn't need a lot of stress right now (though Naruto disagreed with her, he wasn't stressed about his work at all).

As Naruto walked over to the living room with three sandwiches, Sasuke followed him to the couch.

"Don't you have better things to do then following me around, hoping for some right opportunity to hop onto me."

"I'm not."

"Sure looks like it." Naruto pushed Sasuke away. "Let me finish my meal without staring at me."

"I can't help it, you're beautiful." Sasuke turned back to Naruto.

"I'm not. Turn around, don't watch me eat." Naruto pushed Sasuke away again.

"But you're-"

"Annoying me! Stop it Sasuke. Pervert. I swear, you're getting worse with the day. "

"That's the only downside to this pregnancy," Sasuke muttered. "That you don't."

Naruto looked up from his food. "What?"

Sasuke smirked. "It would be such wonderful-"

Naruto pushed Sasuke off the couch this time. "It's a good thing Ren-chan isn't home."

Sasuke smiled. "I really love her, but sometimes it's better she's not home." He got off from the floor to sit down next to Naruto again.

"A few weeks ago you were so down because she wasn't at home."

"But now I know she'll be back before dinner. Which gives us enough time to-"

"Sasuke! Stop it, I'm eating!" Naruto hit Sasuke on the arm.

Sasuke laughed. "I know a better way to eat-"

Naruto stood up. "I'll be upstairs, eating in peace!" He walked away.

When Sasuke was about to follow him he felt two hands holding him back to the couch. "Wait…"

Naruto grinned as he walked up the stairs.

Sasuke tried to get free, but gave up when he heard the door of their bedroom close. Then he smirked. "Well, I guess not having the real Naruto…" He turned around to face the Bunshin behind him, holding him to the couch.

The face of the clone fell. "You can't!"

"Why not? You're still Naruto."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. "I am."

"Good," Sasuke relaxed, staring into Naruto's eyes upside down. He just needed to be patient. This Naruto wasn't hungry or sleepy.

"I like your eyes," Sasuke told the Bunshin Naruto.

"Yes, yours are pretty too." The clone looked away.

"Your hair looks softer than usual."

"New shampoo," Naruto said softly, though a tiny blush started forming up his cheeks.

"Makes me want to use it too. Maybe we should take a shower-"

"No."

"Then just let me feel it, I can't be certain if I don't use the shampoo or feel it."

Naruto stayed quiet.

"And your skin, looks so soft, like usual. I want to touch it, feel your face, move my hand over your chin, your cheeks, your nose… and your lips… touching mine, until-" Sasuke saw the Bunshin slowly melt away. "until…" Sasuke whispered.

The clone leaned down to hear him better, still not looking at Sasuke. Sasuke noticed the blush forming now.

"Until they're sore, and I will proceed kissing you, going lower and lower, shoulder, collarbone, n-"

Sasuke was cut off by Naruto's mouth. Kissing each other upside down, Sasuke felt Naruto had let him go to hold his face into position.

Finally able to move his hands, Sasuke immediately took advantage of the situation. His hands moved through Naruto's yellow hair, reaching his cheeks and chin. Over Naruto's neck, his shoulders, down his arms. He couldn't reach any further in this strange position, so Naruto's back would be the place to start. It was the right place. He lifted Naruto's shirt up, pulling it off.

The moment they had to pull away from the kiss to get the shirt off, Sasuke quickly turned around and pulled Naruto carefully onto the couch. Naruto gave a squeak in surprise, but was soon unable to make any other sound.

Naruto hadn't known half of it when he had said Sasuke was a pervert. In no time his clothes had been pulled down and Sasuke was all over him.

"Sasuke," Naruto moaned, trying to get Sasuke's lips from lowering further down his stomach, "don't, it doesn't feel right."

Sasuke stopped kissing Naruto's stomach. He looked down onto the black seal as it was slowly forming. "I'll just kiss…" Sasuke looked down, "something else then."

Right then, right that moment as Sasuke lowered further, when he had finally what he wanted, the clone disappeared.

"What? Why?" he asked irritated. "Naruto!" he yelled to the ceiling.

Muttering that Naruto had done this on purpose, Sasuke left the couch and walked up the stairs.

"You see the errors of sending a clone?" Sasuke asked as he stepped into the bedroom. His face fell when he saw Naruto was asleep.

"This isn't fair." He hobbled over to the bed and looked down. "I'll wake you up…" he stopped himself as he bent over Naruto. "I shouldn't. You really were tired."

He sighed sadly and lay down next to Naruto. "When you wake up, you will not be able to get out of it again."

Naruto's answer was a soft breath, breathed out onto Sasuke's face.

-oXo-

A/N: I really love all the reviews I get :3 I can't seem to thank you enough!


	22. Chapter 22: Daily Life

I... forgot... about this chapter... and the next... SORRY!

Thank you all for the reviews and the favourits etc. :D And my beta for beta-ing ^^

-oXo-

**Chapter 22: Daily life**

_25__th__ of February_

Naruto was busy doing the dishes together with Akira.

"And then Neji-sensei told Akane-chan to just do it and hurry up."

"He really said that?" Naruto asked, laughing.

"So Akane-chan really had to clean it up. She was pissed." Akira took a plate from Naruto.

"I can imagine, but I wouldn't have done it."

"You don't know what Neji-sensei can be like. He can look really scary." Akira frowned. "Especially when someone spills chocolate milk on his white coat."

"That was a rather bad move, I must admit." Naruto handed Akira a bowl.

Akira told Naruto the rest of his training that day.

"So we'll probably be doing the same training tomorrow as well," he said.

"I guess." Naruto dried off his hands as they finished the dishes.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?" Naruto looked down to Akira as he put the last fork away.

"Akane-chan asked me to stay over at her house next weekend, but…"

"That sounds nice," Naruto smiled.

"Yeah, but…" He looked down at his shoes and sighed. He looked back up to Naruto again and whispered, "please help me explain this to tou-chan."

"Oh," Naruto said understandingly.

"He will probably protest and think of weird reasons why I can't go."

"I wouldn't know why you wouldn't go. You go on missions with her and Hikaru all the time."

"I know… but you know how he can be like…" Akira muttered.

"I'll help you, don't worry."

Akira smiled. "Thank you Naruto."

Naruto walked into the living room, toward the couch. "Hey Sasu, I want to go to Sakura-chan."

Sasuke looked up. "Okay."

Naruto kept staring at Sasuke.

Sasuke sighed, "hai, hai, I'll come too."

"I'm not saying you should," Naruto said, walking to the garden.

"Not in words," Sasuke muttered.

"Ren-chan! You want to see Kiku-chan?" Naruto yelled into the garden.

Yellow hair suddenly rose above a bush to the right. "Kiku-chan? We're going to oba-chan?"

Naruto nodded. "You coming?"

"Yaaaaaaay!" Ren came running to the porch. "I'll go around the house," she said, pointing to her right.

Naruto looked to the left. "Okay." He closed the sliding door and went to the living room.

Sasuke and Akira were already standing next to the door, waiting. Naruto put on his shoes and followed the two outside.

"She must be so small," Akira said.

"I wanna hold her," Ren said, dancing around, her arms moving up and down to the sides as if she was trying to fly.

Naruto grinned and reached for Sasuke's hand. Sasuke pulled Naruto closer so that their shoulders touched.

Akira and Ren walked in front of them, talking about the baby they were about to see.

Naruto lay down his head against Sasuke's shoulder. "You happy?" he asked softly.

"Of course," was Sasuke's reply.

"Me too."

When they came to Sakura's house they saw Sai standing in the garden, talking to Chouji.

"Hey Chouji! Sai!" Naruto called.

"Sai no oji-san!" Ren screamed even louder and ran to him. "Chouji-san!"

"Hey, Ren," Chouji said, looking down to the small girl. "How are you doing?"

"Okay, okay, okay," Ren said, jumping up and down. "You?"

"I'm fine, thank you for asking, Miss," Chouji said.

Ren giggled and blushed. "I'm not a Miss," she said, twisting and turning around shyly.

"Of course you are," Chouji said. "Look how big you already are, and smart too."

Ren turned a deeper shade of red. "Mooo…"

Naruto grinned when he saw his little girl blush. "You're good with kids Chouji."

Chouji smiled. "Well, Miss Ren, I must leave again."

Ren muttered something softly. Then when she noticed he hadn't heard her, she looked up to Chouji. "I like you Chouji-san."

Chouji smiled and put his hand on her head. "I like you too. Bye."

Chouji walked away.

"Ren-chan you're all red," Akira teased her.

"I'm a Miss," she said softly, not paying attention to Akira and walked straight past Sai into the house.

Inside she walked into the living room. "Sara? Oba-chan!" she called, walking around the room.

"Ren-chan?" Sakura asked, sticking her head around the wall.

"Chouji-san called me a Miss," Ren said shyly, walking to her.

"Oh, that's very kind of him." Sakura walked toward a cradle and stopped there.

"How are you? And the baby?" Ren asked, stopping next to the cradle as well and trying to look over the edge.

"We are all right." Sakura lifted Ren.

"Ooooh, she's so cute," Ren said softly. She stuck out her hand and carefully touched the baby's face. "She's soft."

"Indeed," Sakura said.

Then she touched a tuft of violet hair. "She's asleep?"

"Yes, babies sleep a lot."

"Oh," Ren whispered. "I'll be very quiet."

Sakura put her down again. "Otou-san and papa not here?" she asked Ren.

"Outside, talking with Sai. Akira's here too," Ren said, taking Sakura's hand and directing her to a chair.

Sakura smiled and sat down. Then Ren climbed up her lap. "I can sit on your lap again, without the baby being in the way," Ren said.

Sakura laughed.

"Shhh, she'll wake up," Ren told her, her finger resting on her lips.

"Sorry."

Akira came inside and walked up to the two. He greeted Sakura and she told him to go to the cradle.

"Oh, she's sleeping," he said looking at the small baby. "She looks so peaceful."

"Just wait till she begins crying," Sakura said.

Akira turned around. "I remember Ren crying." He looked up to her, showing he didn't think it was a good memory.

Ren's face fell. "Hm."

Naruto, Sakura and Sai came in as well.

"How are you?" Naruto asked, walking directly to the crib.

"I'm fine… though getting crazy answering that same question over and over while all attention is on the baby."

Naruto looked up, grinning. "Oh, I know. Ahw, cooshie."

"She's asleep, Naruto, don't wake her." Sasuke pulled away Naruto's finger.

"Don't worry, all babies fall asleep once I-"

"Whèèèèh!"

"Huh?" Naruto asked, stepping back. "That never happened before."

Sai stepped in front of Naruto. "You made her cry…" He picked up his daughter and started rocking her, calming her down.

"Papa made Kiku-chan cry!" Ren said.

"I… I did…" Naruto said baffled.

"Uh oh, Naruto," Sakura giggled. "You lost it."

"No…"

"Don't worry, Naruto," Sasuke assured Naruto, taking his hand, "we'll help you get through this."

Naruto pulled his hand away from Sasuke. "Hmpf."

"I can't believe you made her cry," Akira said softly, looking at the baby.

"I did _not_ lose it," Naruto said stubbornly, crossing his arms.

"Papa? Are you broken?"

-xXx-

Naruto laughed, stepping out of the shower. "Don't you dare-" he told Sasuke, who was already moving closer to Naruto when he stepped out of the shower, towel in hand.

"Why not? I'm an ANBU captain."

"And I'm your Hokage." Naruto started drying off.

Sasuke watched Naruto. "Not right now. Tsunade is Hokage today."

"Haha," said Naruto mockingly. "I swear I'll put you onto a month long mission tomorrow."

Sasuke smirked.

Naruto stuck out his tongue and pulled on his boxers.

"You're starting to show," Sasuke told Naruto, putting his arms around him from behind, moving his hands over Naruto's stomach which started to look like he was gaining weight.

Naruto let his head fall back onto Sasuke's shoulder. "Hardly." He let his hands rest on top of Sasuke's, and curled his wet tail around Sasuke's leg.

"I don't call this 'hardly'. Maybe 'not as much as it will be', but not 'hardly'."

"I hate you."

"Yes, me too."

"You do?" Naruto asked.

"Hm." Sasuke looked a little sad as he stared in front of him.

"Well, I was kidding just now, so don't hate yourself," Naruto said sadly, not liking the sad look on Sasuke's face. His fox ears had lowered on his head.

"Okay," Sasuke smirked.

"You change minds fast." Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Sure do."

Naruto made his way out of Sasuke's arms, walking into their bedroom, and sat down on a chair. Leaning back until he was comfortable, he watched Sasuke step into the room naked and walk over to their closet.

"Hmm."

Sasuke turned his head to Naruto before looking into the closet.

"So, Sasuke, be honest." Naruto took in every inch of Sasuke's perfect body.

"Hm?"

"Who would you choose…" Naruto looked into Sasuke's eyes when he turned to Naruto.

"I don't like where this is going."

"Sakura or Sai?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

Naruto shrugged. "Anything." He got his towel and started to dry his tail.

"Sakura," Sasuke answered immediately, turning back to the closet.

Naruto grinned. "That was a fast answer."

"It's not a difficult question."

"Even if I had meant…"

Sasuke had a feeling where this was going. "Hn."

"Sasuke~?" Naruto whined.

"You wanted an answer, you got one."

Naruto wasn't satisfied, but knew Sasuke wouldn't let go anything else on the matter. "Okay, Kakashi-sensei or Gai-sensei."

Sasuke turned to Naruto again. "Honestly?"

"Okay, okay, that was not really a question." Naruto grinned when he saw Sasuke stare into the closet again, like he had to make a difficult decision about what to wear. He knew Sasuke wasn't doing that because he didn't know what to put on. It was all show, and show it was.

"Ino or Hinata?"

Sasuke thought this over for a minute. "Hinata."

"Why?"

"Because she's more serious when going on a mission. Plus less…" Sasuke pursed his lips, "annoying. She's quiet, I like that."

"Okay, I'll make this harder. Itachi or Akira-kun."

Sasuke didn't move. It actually took him almost ten minutes before he spoke again. "Akira-kun."

"I knew it," Naruto said. "Next, and I think you can feel it coming-"

"I'm not going to choose between my two children."

"Wasn't planning on that. Wouldn't dare. So," Naruto grinned foxily at Sasuke when he gave him his answer. "Ren-chan or me?"

This made Sasuke turn around with some underwear in hand. "What?"

"You can be honest, don't think too much of this. I swear I won't beat you up whatever you answer."

Sasuke still couldn't believe what Naruto had asked. "Can't we go back to the Kiba or Shino?"

"Interesting," Naruto thought this over. "Who _would _you choose?"

"I wasn't serious."

"I am. Come on, tell me. I know which one I would pick."

Sasuke, standing in his underwear, stared at Naruto until he was sure Naruto wouldn't dare ask him again.

"Sorry, I was just curious," Naruto muttered when Sasuke walked back to the closet, bending forward to get some clothes. Naruto leant to the side to get the perfect angle on Sasuke.

"Nice as-," Naruto muttered, stopping when Sasuke turned to look at him.

"What?"

"As in… the way… that I had just some weird thoughts that crossed my mind. Silly me." Naruto hit his head and looked away.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes before he got some pants from a shelf to pull on.

Naruto's hands lay on his stomach, still enjoying seeing Sasuke get dressed. Then his eyes landed on Sasuke's stomach (or so Sasuke thought). So when he noticed this after he had put his pants on, he walked over to Naruto and sat down on his lap. He looked down into Naruto's eyes, which didn't meet his. "Jealous?"

"Hardly."

"Hardly?" Sasuke asked, placing his hand on Naruto's cheek.

"Of what exactly?" Naruto then asked, looking up, grinning sheepishly.

"Never mind."

Naruto laid his hand on Sasuke's chest.

Sasuke leaned forward, kissing Naruto on his head and then his lips before standing up, grabbing a navy blue shirt, and walking out of the room. "Make sure you're dressed before dinner."

"Oh, okay." Naruto sat up, pouting while watching Sasuke walk off, observing his every movement. When Sasuke was no longer in view, he quickly got up, already missing the wonderful sight of the raven.

-x-

Slowly Naruto walked down the staircase. He heard Ren and Sakumo talk to Sasuke in the living room.

"And then Satake said he would do it!"

"I did."

"He did very well! He's really good at digging holes. I think he found about 20-"

"It were only 12-"

"A lot of worms!" Ren almost yelled. Naruto could hear Ren jump up and down excitedly.

"My dad told me how to catch them."

"Cool."

Naruto would have sniggered just at the thought of Kakashi looking for worms, if his mind wasn't on something else. He didn't want Kakashi ruining the image still fresh in his mind.

"You two want some tea?" Sasuke asked the kids.

"Yes, please," the two said at the same time.

Naruto turned around, walking over to the kitchen out of the hall. When he stood in the doorway, he saw Sasuke standing at the counter filling a kettle with water.

"Hey, Sas," Naruto called Sasuke.

"You want some tea too?" Sasuke asked, putting the kettle away and reaching for some tea cups.

"Um, yeah, tea sounds fine." Slowly Naruto walked over to the table and sat down. He started playing with some lost chopsticks, while his tail swirled behind his back.

Sasuke turned around, waiting for the water to boil. Leaning back against the counter he looked at the ceiling.

"We don't have enough room," he suddenly said.

Naruto frowned. "For what?"

Sasuke looked over to Naruto. "A baby."

"Oh." Naruto fell silent.

"It would be best… if we want to move, to do it before the baby comes."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Or we can change…" Sasuke mulled things over in his head, thinking of how they could alter the rooms upstairs.

Naruto was also thinking, but not about changing the space in the house; he was thinking about a different changing. "Less," he muttered softly, smirking.

Sasuke looked up to the blond. "What?"

Naruto had a foxy grin showing on his face as he blindly stared at Sasuke, who started waving his hand to Naruto.

Seeing Naruto was lost in thought, and already suspecting it wasn't about a room for a baby, Sasuke shook his head. "We'll think about it later." He turned around to look at the kettle.

"Hm? Later?" Naruto asked absentmindedly as he snapped out of his staring. He looked up to Sasuke's back. "You eh…" he smirked.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder as the kettle began to whistle. "Yes?" He indicated that he had heard Naruto, but Naruto thought he was thinking the same as he was.

"Really?" he asked happily.

Confused Sasuke turned around, lifting an eyebrow. "Hn?"

Naruto clapped his hands. "So what do we do about the kids?"

Sasuke just stared at Naruto as he saw the red tail joyously wag behind him. Finally he concluded Naruto's mind wasn't on the right subject; he turned back to the sink and picked up one tea cup. He placed the cup in front of Naruto. "Come sit with us in the living room." Then he placed the other cups on a tray and took them with him to the living room.

Slightly disappointed and al the more confused, Naruto watched Sasuke leave the kitchen. "Sas?" He stood up, and followed the raven, taking the tea with him. In the living room he sat down beside Sasuke and the kids.

"I think I got mud inside my sweater," Sakumo said, looking into his sweater.

"Really?" Ren moved over to him and looked inside his sweater too. "Oh, yeah. That's a weird place," she giggled.

"You got earth in your hair," Sakumo pointed to Ren's spikey hair.

"And in my legwarmers," Ren grinned.

"How did it get there?" Naruto asked, having come to his senses somewhat.

"I kept the worms in there."

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged looks. "Sounds like something you would have done." Sasuke said as he looked at Naruto.

"Eh?" A blond eyebrow rose.

"But we set the worms free after our contest was done. Otou-chan told us to do so."

"That's good." Naruto looked down to the two kids as they drank their tea. "You two are really dirty. Better take a bath before we send Sakumo-kun home. Anko will not like you being covered in mud."

"I like taking a bath! Can we go to a bathhouse?" Ren asked excitedly.

"You can go in bath here," Sasuke told her.

"But it's so small here."

"Compared to a bathhouse," Sasuke said.

"I like taking baths here, you have a nice bathroom," Sakumo told Ren.

"Okay, let's go then." Ren ran away.

"And you say I change minds quickly," Sasuke told Naruto while Sakumo stood up and hurried after Ren.

Naruto shrugged, finishing drinking his tea and got up too. "Ren-chan's just special."

Sasuke couldn't deny that.

"Don't pull out your clothes before you are in the bathroom! Sasuke doesn't like to clean up everything!" Naruto went upstairs.

"Why would I have to clean it up? I need to get some groceries," Sasuke said, knowing Naruto could hear him.

"You said you have the urge to take care of me!" Naruto yelled back.

Sasuke looked down to the empty teacup in his hand as he had been about to pick them up to place them on the tray. "Hn."

-x-

Happily a clean Ren and Sakumo had played the rest of the afternoon in Ren's room. Right before dinner Naruto had gotten a personal message from Anko with the announcement that he and Sasuke had to take care of Sakumo for another night and day, because she had a mission.

Aiko, of course, couldn't be left alone and was now sitting on Naruto's lap, drawing something that might possibly be a tree.

"How does it feel to be three years, Aiko-chan?" Naruto asked the little girl in his lap.

"Three! I'm three."

"She's happy," Sakumo told Naruto.

"She might be happier if…" Ren turned around, to look up to Sasuke, who was reading peacefully on the couch. Her eyes pleadingly watched Sasuke, trying to catch his attention.

Minutes past in which Ren kept blinking at Sasuke, waiting for him to notice her, but he straight out ignored her.

"Sasuke, someone needs your attention," Naruto told him. He was all ears for Ren's plan.

"Look, look, 'ruto." Aiko pointed to her drawing and Naruto looked over her shoulder.

"Wow, that's a very nice tree."

"Not a tree! You!"

"Oh, yes… I see. Doesn't 'ruto have a head?"

Aiko pointed to the drawing. "There."

"Eyes?"

Aiko pointed again.

"Ah, yes, I think I begin to see. Impressive drawing."

Aiko beamed. "I like drawing. 'ruto too?"

"No, I'm not much of an artist."

Aiko wanted to lay the drawing away, but Naruto stopped her. "Doesn't 'ruto get a 'suke?"

Aiko looked up to Naruto with a questioningly look on her face. "A 'suke?" she asked. "What is that?"

"A 'suke is a Sasuke."

Aiko tilted her head, not understanding. She looked over to Sasuke, who was still ignoring his daughter's stares of attention.

"Draw Sasuke with 'ruto?" Aiko asked softly.

"Yes," Naruto told her. "I would like that."

"Okay, for you!"

Naruto hugged Aiko. "You're the best."

"I don't think your otou-san notices you," Sakumo whispered to Ren.

Ren's intense staring continued. "Shh," she silenced him to concentrate better.

"Ehm… Sasuke-san," Sakumo tried, not believing Ren would succeed in her mission alone.

"Hm?"

"Ren-tan wants to ask you if you would please, please read something to us?"

Ren turned her head to Sakumo, giving him a foul look before turning back to Sasuke and giving him a begging look. "Please?"

"Yes, please, Sasuke?" Naruto joined in.

"Onii-chan would agree too, if he was not on a mission," Ren added.

"Aiko-chan wants it too, don't you?" Sakumo asked his little sister. Aiko looked up at hearing her name. "Say yes," Sakumo told her.

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"Why?"

"Doesn't matter, just say yes."

"Why?" the lavender haired girl asked again.

"Say, yes," Naruto whispered in her ear, "me too."

"Yes, me too," Aiko immediately said.

Sasuke sighed. "Okay, just give me a book." He sat up to put away his own book, and held out his hand as if he didn't really want to read to them at all.

"Yay!" both Ren and Sakumo jumped up and ran to the bookcase.

"I did good, 'ruto?" Aiko asked Naruto softly.

"You did, you're a good girl." Aiko smiled. Sasuke shook his head.

Ren and Sakumo had found the perfect book (which was nearly falling apart from excessive use) and handed it to Sasuke.

"But only one story and then you all go to bed. Aiko should have been asleep a long time ago."

"She's fine," Naruto told Sasuke. "But you're right," he added, seeing the look on Sasuke's face.

Sasuke opened the book and picked out a good story. "Once upon a time there was a great shinobi, who could create forests with a single jutsu."

Everything became quiet, only Aiko's pencils could be heard as she continued her drawing, while Sasuke spoke of a distant past.

-x-

Naruto set Aiko on Akira's bed; seeing he wasn't home today she would sleep in his room in his bed. Sakumo would sleep in Ren's room, like he did more often.

Aiko sleepily looked up to Naruto, the drawing of Naruto and Sasuke still tightly clutched in her hand.

"Lift your arms up," Naruto told her, so he could pull her shirt off. Aiko put her drawing down beside her and complied sleepily. After removing her pants too, Naruto pulled her pyjama on.

"Should I let the nightlight on?" he asked as he pulled the sheets up to cover Aiko while she lay down.

Aiko nodded. "Over there." She pointed to the corner of the room.

"Okay." Naruto plugged the nightlight in, and then he walked back to Aiko. "Good night." He kissed her and turned away.

"Wait!" Naruto turned back to Aiko. "This is for you." Sleepily looking through half lidded eyes, Aiko held out the drawing to Naruto.

"Really? That's very nice of you." Aiko smiled. "Thank you." Naruto accepted the paper and stroked Aiko's purple hair, kissing it once more. A smile appeared on Aiko's face. "Night."

"Night, 'ruto."

Turning off the lights, Naruto closed the door behind him and walked over to the other bedroom.

"All ready?" he asked, peering around the door into Ren's room.

"We are," Ren said, climbing up her bed.

"Me too." Sakumo already sat on his mattress.

"Good. No more playing around; I can hear. Goodnight then."

"Goodnight."

"Night."

Naruto turned off the lights in that room too and closed the door. Tired himself, he walked over to the last bedroom, only to find that the lights had already been turned off, and Sasuke waiting for him to warm him up.

Quickly Naruto got rid of his clothes to be able to hug Sasuke.

"Hey Sas," he started, letting his hands roam over Sasuke's chest while he tried to shuffle underneath him.

"Hm?" Sasuke leaned back against Naruto's chest.

"How long has it been now?"

"Has what been?"

Naruto let his head rest against Sasuke's, feeling a cold hand and a warm hand on top of his own.

"The pregnancy."

"You mean how many weeks?"

Naruto nodded.

Sasuke turned so he was sideways lying against Naruto, so he could stroke his stomach, the small bump forming there. "Twenty weeks."

"And you know what the great thing is?"

Sasuke kept stroking Naruto's belly, watching him questioningly.

"That beside the occasional stabbing pain and churns, I feel fine." Naruto started stroking Sasuke's hair.

"It's a good thing that the jutsu has probably learned from last time."

Naruto nodded in agree. "I have to admit I don't mind being pregnant if it's like this all the way." He closed his eyes and shuffled into a more comfortable position against the pillow.

Sasuke smirked, and kissed Naruto's jaw. Then he closed his eyes too, still hugging Naruto, ready to sleep. He found Naruto's tail and laid it around Naruto's belly. "Let's hope so."

Naruto opened his eyes again. "What?"

Sasuke mumbled something, grabbing the soft red tail.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Hm."

-xXx-

Sasuke and Naruto watched Ren finally sleep on the couch. She hadn't been able to sleep, feeling so bad. Sweat was making her blonde locks stick to her face.

Sasuke looked sadly at his daughter. "Maybe we should let Sakura come and take a look at her tomorrow."

"She already did that yesterday," Naruto told his worried lover. "Ren has been ill before. Sakura said she would just have to sweat it out-"

"But this has been going on for almost four weeks now, this is not a normal stomach flu or any sickness Ren has ever had. When she's ill, she's ill, but not like this for such a long time."

Naruto knew it was true. "She will be alright, you worry too much," he tried to comfort Sasuke, reaching for his hand.

"Maybe we should ask Tsunade-"

"I don't think she will be needed. Plus after what you did last Monday…"

Sasuke huffed.

Naruto squeezed in Sasuke's hand. "You can't run into her office saying that Ren-chan's dying."

"It wasn't that bad," Sasuke countered softly, almost muttering.

"You said she was _dying_. That's bad, Sasuke."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, not looking at Naruto, just his little girl.

Naruto sighed softly. He pulled Sasuke to him, making the raven look down at him. "I know you are worried -beyond worried I might say- about her, especially since everything seemed to be getting better with Ren, but you do know neither Sakura nor Tsunade would be sitting still if there was anything seriously wrong with her."

"Maybe they just can't do anything."

"Sasuke, listen." Naruto took Sasuke's other hand too. "Have a little more faith in her."

Sasuke looked down at Naruto for some time before his eyes left the blue eyes to move over to the sleeping girl on the couch. "I have… It's just… I don't like seeing her like this."

"Neither do I."

"Then how can you stay so calm?"

Only Naruto saw the irony in the sentence, Sasuke was too serious to be able to hear it as well. "I know you take good care of her, that she will get better like she always does, and that I have a village to take care of too." Naruto smiled. "Did you even know that Akira-kun did his first C-rank mission?"

Sasuke's face fell. "No? When?"

Naruto shook his head. "You see? No wonder Akira-kun has been so-"

"What? Has been what?"

"Sasuke, you have more than one kid." Naruto stood on his toes, whispering in Sasuke's ear. "Go talk to him, take your thoughts off Ren. I'll look after her for a while." He kissed Sasuke softly on his cheek before walking away into the kitchen, preparing some tea.

Sasuke watched Naruto for a while before walking into the living room, kneeling down next to Ren. Stroking some hair out of her face, he whispered "I believe in you," before walking away. He left the house and headed into the direction of Akira's usual training field.

When he arrived there he found Akira all alone, angrily throwing kunai at some different targets. They all hit target, almost every time. Sometimes he used too much force to throw them so that they ricocheted off other kunai or shuuriken, or completely missed the target.

Once again the last thing happened, and Akira threw the last few shuuriken to the ground. He walked up to the missed target, kicked it and then went to look for the missing kunai in the bushes behind the pole.

Sasuke moved over to the bushes too, and hunched down when he found the kunai a bit to the left of the bush. Then he stepped into the bush and walked up behind Akira, who was muttering and grumbling.

"Here's your kunai," Sasuke said, handing Akira the piece of metal.

Akira made a small jump, being surprised to see his father suddenly standing behind him.

"Thanks," he said as he snatched the kunai, and started walking off.

Sasuke stopped him by grabbing his arm. "Wait, Akira."

Akira stayed still, gripping the kunai tightly.

"I think…" Sasuke looked down, noticing the tight grip on the kunai. "We need to talk."

Akira turned around. "Why?"

"You're angry."

"So what? Like you care?" Akira tried to turn back and walk away, but Sasuke still held him tightly. "Let go."

"I _do_ care. More than you realize. I want to know what is going on. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you before."

Akira stopped struggling. "Hm. Still. You don't have to worry about me; I can take care of myself."

Sasuke's eyes fell for a moment, but then he looked up to the back of his son. "I know you can, you are already a genin. I'm proud of that." Akira made some movement. "And you know I am, but that's not what this is about."

Sasuke took a slow deep breath. He had hoped Akira would turn around, but he hadn't. "You are more than a genin, a medic ninja, a shinobi." Sasuke turned Akira around, but the smaller raven wasn't meeting his eyes. "You are my son." Akira turned his head away, but Sasuke gripped his chin and made him look up to him. "There's something on your mind, and I would like to know what is troubling you."

Akira bit his lip, before slapping Sasuke's hand away. He took a step back and then sat down on the grassy ground. Sasuke followed his example, leaning against a tree.

"I know Ren is younger, and that she needs a lot of attention. She can't help it that she's ill so often." Akira looked away from Sasuke. "And I don't hate her for it. It has always been like this." He picked some grass and began shredding it slowly. "I'm a genin now, I'll be 12 soon, I can take care of myself." He threw the pieces of grass away. "But…"

Sasuke lowered his eyes, already knowing what was coming.

It was quiet for some time, until Akira turned his head back to Sasuke, his cheeks slightly red and his eyes a mix between sadness and anger. "But, I wanted to ask you something important, and you weren't even trying to listen to me!"

Sasuke saw Akira was trying not to cry, blinking a lot as his damp eyes kept avoiding Sasuke's look. He deserved Akira's anger, he was ready for that, but he wasn't sure if he could take on the tears.

Then suddenly Akira lashed out and slapped Sasuke in the face. Sasuke hadn't even tried to avoid it. Then the tears started falling from the teal eyes. "This is really important to me and you weren't there for me!" he yelled, standing up. "I tried to go to Naruto, but I needed you, I couldn't ask Naruto." He whipped away the tears, while he breathed erratically.

Sasuke looked down sadly before looking up to the raven again. "I'm really sorry."

Akira slowly lowered himself and sat down beside Sasuke again. "You are really important to me, tou-chan."

Sasuke carefully laid his hand on Akira's shoulder, who didn't pushed it away. Instead he turned to Sasuke and hugged him. "I missed you," he said softly.

"I'm here now. I'll still listen if you want me to." He stroked the boy's back.

For some time Akira didn't say anything, and they sat there just like that. After a while Akira sat up again and Sasuke let go of him.

After a few seconds the redness on Akira's face spread, and Sasuke didn't think this was from anger any longer. He started to wonder what kind of problem the boy was having. He might be a genin already, but the fact remained (even though Sasuke had never said so) that the boy was _only_ 11. He was still so young.

Blushing, Akira's sea green eyes darted around, not going anywhere near Sasuke's. Finding it harder and harder to keep himself from telling the boy to speak, Sasuke tried to keep himself calm, and waited for Akira to start talking.

"Do you… do you remember…" Akira stopped, nervously playing with his fingers. Then he decided his father was finally listening, and that he needed to man up and tell him. He took a deep breath, and blurted out in one breath, "DoyourememberKaori-chan?"

Sasuke blinked, before fully processing what he had heard. "Kaori?"

Akira nodded nervously, his blush deepening to something Sasuke had never seen on his son's face before. Then he narrowed his eyes as he now understood where this was going. He was about to open his mouth and say something when a little voice, similar to Naruto's, told him that Akira needed him and that he should not be angry right now. "You like her?" he asked, trying not to sound too bitter.

Akira slowly looked up to Sasuke. "I really don't know," he said honestly. "She… she told me she likes me." Akira started to shuffle again. "She asked me to be… if I wanted to be… I…" Akira's stammering stopped.

"She wants to be your girlfriend," Sasuke stated almost monotonously.

Akira looked up and then nodded.

"Just ignore it." He had said it before he knew it. Akira looked up confused to Sasuke. "I mean, you don't have to do anything if you don't want to," Sasuke quickly added.

"But, I don't know what I want." Akira shuffled. "Did you… did you ever had a g-girlfriend?" he asked Sasuke as if the word girlfriend was poison.

Sasuke shook his head. "I hated the girls at the academy."

Akira looked surprised, his blush leaving and his eyebrows rising. "Hated…?"

Sasuke choose not to answer that.

"Boyfriend?" Akira then asked, noticing his father's silence.

"No." Sasuke decided to get the topic away from himself and back to Akira instead, so he talked on as if the last questions hadn't been asked. "You're still young," was all he said.

"So? What does that mean?"

If only Naruto was here, he knew so much better how to handle things like this, or at least he would know what to say. What would he say? Sasuke tried to think of what Naruto would do. He pictured him sitting there opposite them, listening. 'I wish a girl had asked me to become her boyfriend when I was 11.' Sasuke narrowed his eyes. That was something Naruto would say, but that wasn't helping him. He looked over to Akira again, who was still waiting for his answer.

"What do… _you_ want?"

Akira shrugged. "I told you I don't know."

"You like her?"

"I guess."

Sasuke didn't really know what to ask next, so they sat there in silence for a moment, when suddenly Akira spoke up again. "When do you know you like someone more than just a friend?"

Sasuke was so not ready to have this conversation with his son yet. Normally he would tell the boy he was too young for stuff like this and focus on other things. Maybe that was what he should do? He really didn't know anymore.

After the last time they had a conversation like this, Akira confessing he had 'accidentally' kissed Akane (Sasuke still didn't believe it had been accidental), Naruto had told Sasuke very clearly that he should loosen up. It's a confusing topic for a boy, even for adults, so he shouldn't be mad, but be more… tactical about what he wanted to say. So he probably shouldn't say that the girl probably didn't even knew what she had really asked, or that Akira should just tell her 'no'.

"I think you're not ready for me to tell you that yet," he finally told Akira. "I don't even think I could explain it, but I think you should wait until you know what to do… If you really like someone, whether a girl or a boy, you will know when the time comes… preferably never," he added the last two words.

At the last part Akira narrowed his eyes.

"Well, maybe just not for the next twenty years then."

Then they both stood up, and walked out of the bushes.

"Tou-chan?"

"Hn?"

"Thanks," Akira said, blushing as he shyly looked up.

Sasuke smiled and pulled out a shuuriken of his pouch. "Let's have a small contest."

Akira smiled and ran forward, swirling the kunai around his finger.

-x-

Something was touching him. Something was feeling him up, but only one area of his torso. Hands were roaming over his stomach, and by the feeling of it, it were Sasuke's hands.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked, not opening his eyes or turning his head to the other side to see were Sasuke was supposed to be. This feeling inside his lower region… it was as if…

"Nothing," Sasuke answered.

"Then why are you completely covered under the sheets if you're doing nothing?" Naruto asked. He felt how his tails was being moved aside and how the mattress shifted when Sasuke's weight came closer and moved up on the bed.

"Oh? You didn't notice?" Sasuke grinned and lay down again, this time his head coming above the sheets.

Naruto lowered his ears. "Does this have to do with the fact that…"

"That?" Sasuke asked, his mouth coming closer to Naruto's chest.

Naruto closed his eyes when he felt Sasuke mouth move to his nipple. The hands were still on his stomach. "That I'm hard?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment. "Again?" he then asked surprised.

"What do you mean… again?" Naruto asked slowly.

"I just… we… You were sleeping the entire time?" Sasuke sat up, and his hands left Naruto so he could look at the blond.

Naruto turned his head to Sasuke. "What do you mean 'the entire time'? What did you do to me?"

"But… you were talking back! I thought you were awake…"

Naruto blinked. "You had sex with me and… you couldn't tell I was sleeping?"

"Naruto, I think you are surprised about the wrong thing here. How can you _not_ have woken up through… all of that?"

"What? All of th-" Naruto shook his head. "Doesn't matter, obviously you're not done yet." Naruto lay down again, slightly embarrassed and irritable. He turned his back to Sasuke.

"But… I can't go again…"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Pathetic."

"I can't help it… you came already… twice…"

Naruto was silent. "Twice?" And he seriously hadn't woken up? "That _is_ serious…" he muttered.

Sasuke grinned, or at least Naruto thought he did. "Alright, I'll help you, but just a hand job."

"At least you seem happy again," Naruto said, feeling Sasuke getting closer to him.

"I had to wait so long for this."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I can't help it that I'm pregnant and just not always in the mood. You try being pregnant once."

"I tried; it didn't work out for me."

"It's not funny," Naruto muttered, though when he felt Sasuke's arms folding around his stomach, he couldn't help it when purring erupted from somewhere in his throat.

Sasuke's hands then moved lower. "Ready?"

"What is that for a stupid question?"

Sasuke grinned and kissed Naruto. "I promise to be gentler this time."

"Muh…"

-oXo-

A/N: Please review *clasps hands together*. Maybe that way I will send the next chapter sooner than planned ^^


	23. Chapter 23: Ren's Mystery Unravelled

Thank you for the reviews and favourites! They remind me to write ;)

-oXo-**  
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**Chapter 23: Ren's mystery unravelled**

_27__th__ of March_

Swirling vines, curled up over the decorated, massif wood of a dark walnut tree. The never changing plants beautifully made their way up until they reached the end of the two meter high wood. Every now and then small flowers, some just buds, some already open or halfway there, ornamented the leaves and vines. It was as if they were entangled around a wooden pole. The carpenter had really done a magnificent job at making the plant look as realistic as it did.

Somewhere above the middle, almost on the same height as Sasuke's eyes, a small stained-glass window with lovely green combined with brown glass formed the image of a tree. Inside the tree was a small symbol of a clan.

This was an evil door. Certainly the most scariest door in his entire life. Well, the second one, but that didn't make him feel much better.

This wooden door, which he didn't see very often, which he didn't stand in front of very often; a door from which he hadn't noticed before how beautifully decorated it was, was a door which he respected. Everything about this house, belonging to this person, he respected. If not for her he might not have had a head anymore. Besides Naruto, she had been the one that had made it possible for him to stay in the village. Naruto had made him want to stay when he was allowed to stay, but she was the one that had made it possible for him to stay at all.

She was the only person to whose name he always added a suffix to (let alone call -_sama_) which was not without reason. He hadn't started doing that to show his good side to her, to convince her, or to make sure he could stay in the village. Not even to thank her for what she had done for him. No, not at all. He would never do something like that just to make sure he would be able to stay. No, this was pure respect. She had earned this respect and honour.

Nevertheless he hadn't expected to stand here in front of her door like this, unable to knock, unable to walk away. It had been 3 o'clock when he had come here, but he had no idea how long he was already standing there. It didn't matter, this way he could think everything over carefully.

Suddenly the door opened in front of him, and Sasuke automatically took a step backward.

"Uchiha? What are you doing, standing in front of my door in the middle of the night? Don't you know what time it is?" Tsunade asked somewhat annoyed. "I know you've been here for… a… while…" he voice died down. "Is everything alright? It's not because of Ren, is it?"

Sasuke didn't move; he didn't even look down to Tsunade.

Tsunade sighed.

"Come," she said softly, reaching out for his hand. Pulling him inside, she made sure he sat down on the couch. "Now, tell me what is wrong," she asked as she sat down opposite of him, looking into the worried black eyes.

Still Sasuke didn't say anything. All he did was lay his head in his hands.

"It's about Ren after all," Tsunade said, not needing to ask. "She's still ill?"

Sasuke nodded.

When Sasuke still didn't speak, Tsunade stood up and sat down beside Sasuke. She had never seen him like this before, and she knew he wouldn't come over to her house just to chit-chat; especially not in the middle of the night. She looked up to the clock, noticing it was already past 4.

"Sasuke, I can't help you if you don't tell me anything." Waiting for Sasuke to respond, Tsunade silently observed the raven.

He wasn't pale as in sickly pale, but maybe a bit paler than usual. It was more like a pale of being shocked. His hair was messier than normal. He obviously hadn't combed his hair; had just left the bed and had come over here. His hands always steady were shaking ever so slightly. One wouldn't notice this except when looking at him like Tsunade did now.

Suddenly Sasuke moved and looked up to Tsunade. A look of determination was on his face, which surprised Tsunade.

"It's getting worse."

-x-

Naruto found himself unable to concentrate. He was reading, but wasn't. The words didn't stay in his head.

Sasuke had left the bed sometime before 3 in the night. Naruto had woken up, feeling an empty sopt beside him. Wondering where the raven had gone to, seeing he did not return from a toilet visit, Naruto finally decided Sasuke might have gone on a last minute mission or something.

Sometimes it happened that Sasuke was informed about an event suddenly in the middle of the night, and even Naruto didn't know about what was going on until they came back home to tell him. He trusted Sasuke, captain of the ANBU-squad, enough to know that he could make the right decisions without asking the Hokage for permission first.

However, when morning had broken, the raven had come home around 8 in the morning, and had acted like nothing was wrong, like he hadn't left the house at all. He had woken Naruto up, and had made him and the kids breakfast; everything he would normally do, but Naruto knew it wasn't normal. Something was off, just a little bit. The look in his eyes, the smile on his face; even the kiss he gave Naruto before he left.

Naruto knew the raven was troubled about something, but he had no idea about what. He didn't like it that Sasuke hadn't told him.

Naruto pulled his hand through his hair.

"You seem troubled."

Naruto looked up.

"You know why," he told the figure in the door.

"You shouldn't. It doesn't suit you."

"Hm, so I heard before." Naruto crossed his arms and leant back into his chair. "You're back early."

Kakashi walked over to Naruto's desk and sat down on the corner of his desk. "I missed my kids."

"Ahw." Naruto leaned forward on his desk. "Ready for the next mission?"

Kakashi gave him a lazy look. "Sure."

Naruto laughed. "It's over there, but you will have lots of time to prepare for it, and see your adorable kids."

Kakashi didn't even bother to pick up the file with his next mission. "So, how are you?" He looked down to Naruto's stomach, which started to show through his clothing.

Naruto looked up to Kakashi and saw his stare aimed at his stomach. "Fine." He lowered his eyes.

Kakashi glanced to Naruto. "How are you?" he asked again.

Naruto looked up to his sensei once more, and then shrugged.

"Mentally?" Kakashi asked.

"Messed up, like always," Naruto grinned.

"Yes, that was the wrong question to ask," Kakashi admitted.

"You're not all that smart after all," Naruto joked. Then his smile disappeared. "Ever thought things couldn't get any worse?"

"Lots of times."

"Hm." Naruto sat back in his chair again, and looked out of the window.

Kakashi followed his look to find he was looking at the monument. "He would be proud," he said eventually.

"Huh?" Naruto turned to Kakashi. "Who?"

So Naruto hadn't really been watching the faces, Kakashi concluded. "Your father."

"Oh, him."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Naruto was out of it more than he had thought. "Does it have to do with Sasuke?"

Naruto turned to Kakashi. "Why?"

"It always has something to do with Sasuke when you are like this."

"Sorry for being predictable." Naruto looked out the window again. "He's not telling me something."

"Maybe he has a surprise for you."

Naruto looked around to Kakashi. "Why would he do that?"

Kakashi just stared at Naruto. "Maybe because he feels like giving you one?"

Naruto still wasn't satisfied. "Why?"

Kakashi decided not to answer anymore. Naruto could be so dense sometimes. His hand went to his weapons pouch, reaching for his _Icha Icha_ book, but then he saw Naruto's face. It wasn't right; Naruto's face wasn't made to look concerned. Letting the book be as it was, he watched Naruto for a while longer.

"It's something else," Naruto said.

"How so?"

"I just know." Naruto turned to Kakashi. "I think it might have something to do with Ren being ill for such a long time."

Kakashi lifted his head. "You think he knows what's going on?"

Naruto stared into the lazy, but serious eyes of his sensei. That was exactly what he thought.

"Then ask _him_ instead of sitting here like this." Kakashi stood up. "You're better off being straightforward, instead of cropping things up inside." He walked over to the door, opening it. "I'm going home; I haven't seen my boy and girl for a whole week."

Naruto watched him close the door behind him; still staring at it even though it had been closed for a while. Then he finally took his eyes off it and watched the clock on the wall.

"I better get home too, before Sasuke tells me I can't go to my office anymore." Letting his desk like it was, messy and filled with papers and scrolls, he stood up and stretched out. At that moment his stomach rumbled.

"Yes, I'm hungry too," he told his belly, stroking it.

-x-

Sasuke leaned against the doorframe, thinking about his conversation with Tsunade, while he stared into the darkened room.

"_It's getting worse."_

"_What is?" Tsunade asked confused._

"_Her chakra. It's hurting her more and more. While we tried to help her control it, it also… grew more violent, so to say."_

_Tsunade's eyes opened further. "How do you know?"_

"_I felt it changing."_

"_Why didn't you tell us before?"_

"_Because I didn't realize what I felt until just now, when I went to look at her while she was sleeping." Sasuke moved his hands through his hair. "I've been so stupid; I should have seen this coming! Now she's even worse than she was before I started training her."_

_Tsunade laid her hand on his shoulder. "You couldn't have known this would-"_

"_I could have been more careful! I could have taken things slower and analyse the results more carefully. Just because she didn't have any fevers anymore and was much happier… I didn't feel like being careful, I-"_

"_Sasuke, stop blaming yourself."_

"_I can't."_

_Tsunade watched him for a moment. "Have you told Naruto?"_

"_Not yet," Sasuke shook his head._

_Tsunade had already known he hadn't, otherwise Naruto wouldn't have let him come here alone, and especially not in the middle of the night._

"_You came to me first, because…?"_

"_I don't want him to be stressed out about this in his condition." _

"_He can handle it."_

"_No." Sasuke let his hands fall, and looked up to Tsunade. "He doesn't. Not right now. He's doing a lot better than last pregnancy, and he is a lot happier, I can tell. He likes being able to continue doing his Hokage duties, both as distraction and to be able to do his job, but I can see every evening how much it tires him."_

"_I can-"_

_Sasuke shook his head. "No, he's fine, he knows when to stop. Besides you won't be able to make him stop working or working less than that he thinks he can handle." He moved his head away. "He's fine, but deep inside he still isn't comfortable about all this. It's a male pregnancy, so it's not that strange for him to be uncomfortable. He hasn't told me, he doesn't even show it, to anyone, not even me, but I can tell."_

_Tsunade nodded slowly._

"_He needs his sleep. I'll tell him when I know what to tell him."_

_Tsunade nodded. "Alright. Then tell me more about this chakra?"_

"_It's evil."_

"_That's also what Mimi had said."_

"_Yes, she also said that the chakra doesn't suit Ren. She's right, it doesn't. In fact it's almost as if it's someone else's, but that's not true; thought it's not cooperating with her body, it's more like a poison. I tried to help her control the poison, but one cannot control poison. Instead I made things worse." Sasuke sighed. "And yes, she felt better for a time, because she was suppressing the chakra, keeping the poison at bay. However, by doing so it kept accumulating until finally the dam broke. It must have been quite the shock for her body."_

"_You want to treat her chakra as a poison?" Tsunade asked._

_Sasuke nodded. As he told Tsunade this he was thinking aloud. "Maybe.. have you ever tried to give someone a chakra transfusion?" Sasuke looked up to Tsunade._

"_A chakra transfusion. Not one that you have in mind, no."_

_Sasuke rubbed his face. "I need to think this over more carefully."_

"_I don't think you teaching her how to control her chakra could have been the cause for all of this, maybe it was partly responsible, or just the thing to make things worse, but it can't be all that bad for her." _

"_Maybe not. I'm just afraid that…"_

_Tsunade let her hand rest on Sasuke's shoulder. "That what?"_

"_She might never be able to use chakra, while she has so much of it." Sasuke put his hand over his mouth._

"_It needs to find a safe way out?" Tsunade said thoughtfully._

_Sasuke looked up. "Yes, maybe," he said as if he had an idea._

"_What are you thinking?" Tsunade asked when Sasuke stood up._

"_I'm not sure yet. It's as if I have an idea but it's just out of my reach. I feel that I'm close to unravelling this."_

"_You know what?" Tsunade asked, standing up as well. "You go back to bed, sleep some, and think about this new information again tomorrow. I'll start a new research with Shizune tomorrow, maybe we can find something useful."_

_Sasuke nodded. "You're right." He walked away toward the door. "Thank you." _

He had tried to come up with all sorts of answers, ways to help Ren, but he had not much success. He needed to do something about this, but he did not know what. It frustrated him.

He looked over to his daughter, sleeping peacefully in her bed. She was doing a lot better than a couple of weeks ago, but she was still weak and tired quickly.

Sasuke had told her to stop doing the exercises, and maybe it was his imagination, but it seemed like she was recovering quicker.

Sasuke hunched down next to her bed and stroked some hair out of her eyes. She reminded him a bit of his mother. Her face, her eyes, the way she smiled.

Sasuke stroked the lock of hair away beyond her ear, and softly stoked the soft fur of her fluffy ear. He remembered he had been so worried she might grow a tail or fox ears, but now he thought her ears were cute. The black fur was by now covering the entire edge of her auricle.

A smile spread over his face while his fingers played with the hair.

Ren stirred, but Sasuke did not let go. Slowly her eyes, her black eyes, just like his, opened and looked up to him. "Hmtou-chamm," she muttered sleepily.

"Hey Ren."

Ren then noticed Sasuke touching her ears and her eyes opened further. "What are you doing?" she asked, not moving.

"Feeling your soft ears."

Ren blinked. "Why?"

"Because I like them."

"Why?" Ren asked again.

Sasuke came closer to her. "You promise not to tell anyone else?"

"Okay," Ren whispered back.

"I'm jealous of them," Sasuke whispered into her ear.

Ren's eyes widened. "You are?"

Sasuke nodded. "They are beautiful."

Ren's hand came from under the blanket and went up to her ears, feeling the soft fur and Sasuke's hand. Then she smiled, showing a smile so sincere that Sasuke smiled too. "Really?" she blushed.

Sasuke nodded. "Really."

The blush spread and Ren looked away from Sasuke. "I like your ears too," she said softly.

"Hm, mine are so boring and plain." Ren didn't answer, but her blush didn't disappear as she shyly looked aside. "You mind I keep stroking them for a bit longer?"

Ren shook her head. "No… I.. actually like it."

Sasuke smiled. "Me too."

-xXx-

It was very late; Naruto realized that actually it was very early. He had worked all night. Sasuke had not agreed with it; Naruto being 'in his condition' should rest properly, but Naruto had made it clear to Sasuke that he was still Hokage, and that this meant he had to take careof the village. The 'Tsunade can also handle things' had been countered by Naruto answering she could not, because there were even things going on which she did not know of.

This was right; Naruto had worked all night on something top secret. It was nothing spectacular, but peace treaties and discussing borders and stuff were very confidential.

Naruto wasn't a man of long boring meetings, especially with old boring men, but he had been needed there. He had almost fallen asleep four times, only to be woken up by either Shikamaru or someone suddenly speaking up. Normally he was better able at (somehow) keeping his attention, but he noticed Sasuke might have been right about the 'in his condition' thing. Naruto had started noticing it too. He was more and easier tired than usual. However, that didn't bother him in the slightest; he had always liked to sleep, so he saw no problem there.

Though he had to admit, now that he hadn't been able to get the al night sleep he needed, he felt very grumpy. He had refused Shikamaru's offer to help him work through some papers that had been handed to him in the meeting, because Naruto had wanted to show he wasn't still able to work through the night.

He had to admit, as his head rested on his desk, that Shikamaru's help would have been nice. Just one more paper and he could go home.

It was not even an image of Sasuke waiting for him that called him home. All he could think of was his bed, his soft, comfortable, warm mattress.

He sighed and lifted his head. "Alright, you might have read it ten times already, but this time you will remember what it said." He clasped his hands on his cheeks, to wake him up, and picked up the paper. There wasn't even that much of information on it.

After three sentences he put it down. He started shaking in frustration and actually grumbled the paper in his hands. "I hate you!" he told the piece of paper before throwing it away. "Die!" He pulled out a kunai, ready to throw it and catch the paper in mid-air, but he stopped just in time.

He shook his head. "No, no, it's an official document, I can't do that." He lowered the kunai, grumbling.

Standing up, he felt a stitch in his back. "I shouldn't sit still for so long," he muttered, walking over to the crumbled piece of paper. He stopped in front of it and looked around, before he hatefully stepped on it, as if putting out a cigarette he moved his foot back and forth. Then he picked it up as quickly as he could, and walked back to his desk, unfolding the paper.

As if nothing had happened he continued reading, and finally finished his work. He put the piece of paper on top of the others so that Shikamaru could handle it when he would get here in an hour or two.

He tried to stretch out, but stopped when his back protested. Grumbling he got up, and started to shift things aside (his way of cleaning his desk) so he could go home.

He locked his office behind him with a seal and a key, and started to descend the stairs. His thoughts started to wonder off as he made sure he placed his feet correctly. Three weeks ago he had missed the last step, landing on his butt. Nothing bad had happened, beside his buttocks aching for the rest of the day, but Sasuke had scolded him into the ground. It wasn't until Naruto had promised he would pay more attention that finally Sasuke's frown had been slightly less… frowny.

Sasuke was easily angered lately, not only about these kinds of things. He was more easily agitated, and Naruto was certain it wasn't the jutsu's work. There was something else going on, and Naruto had a feeling what it had to do with Ren. Sasuke knew something about her, which he didn't want to, or didn't dare to tell Naruto about, but by not doing so, he was letting this thing crop up inside.

Naruto knew he had to talk with Sasuke, but he just didn't feel like doing so. He had hoped Sasuke would mention it on his own accord.

Naruto sighed; he was so tired and not to mention very hungry.

Outside, the fresh air did nothing to him, he was still grumpy as he walked home over the street.

At first Naruto had felt quite uncomfortable walking over street back home, and had tried to hide his ever growing belly from the villagers by wearing lots of layers. However, more and more villagers had started asking how he was, and mostly the women wanted to touch his stomach. Apparently the news of his second pregnancy had spread fast (he was the Hokage after all).

Naruto had been quite embarrassed when an adult man had embraced his stomach, screaming into the crowd what a wonderful miracle was growing inside him, while his wife stood angrily staring at her husband's actions.

Something about the man reminded Naruto very much of Lee. It were not the looks, the man in front of him, hugging him, was very different looking from Lee. Except for the round eyes, they were very much the same, and in combination with the man's behaviour Naruto was quite certain that this could be a relative of Lee.

Naruto had smiled at the man, trying to free himself from the kneeling man's embrace. "Could you…"

"What wonder!" the man called again, loudly. Naruto was sure he was lobster red by now.

"I'm so sorry, Hokage-sama," the woman said kindly to Naruto, and smiled at him. Then she looked down at her fresh husband and hit him hard on the head. "Let go you idiot!"

Naruto's eye twitched. Scary. This woman reminded him of Sakura.

"If I could carry children, I would love them with my whole heart, I would-"

The woman roughly grabbed the man's ear. "Yes, yes, but fortunately creating that wonder of life is bestowed on me," she said, sighed, and looked back at Naruto. "I'm so glad he can't, at least you're acting normal and are modest about it." She pulled the man away from Naruto.

Naruto grinned, knowing the woman meant well. "It's alright."

The woman pulled away her lover to the side where she put him down to scold him for making such a scene.

Naruto, still red, grinned sheepishly, not sure how to handle the situation, and started walking home again. However, the woman had come back, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Naruto turned around and looked down at her. The woman was slightly pink in the face when she laid her hands on his stomach. Naruto's blush was fully back, and he stopped breathing for a moment.

"Hokage-sama," she said. She started to open Naruto's red jacket. "You shouldn't try to hide it so much. My husband might be stupid and a bit too loud, but he is right."

Naruto watched her open his jounin vest, somehow not feeling like stopping her. Finally his orange shirt was visible and behind it his slightly swollen stomach. Her warm touch on his stomach somehow made Naruto able to breathe again. "It's a miracle and you should be proud of it. I'm proud of it." She kissed his cheek before turning away. "One day I hope I'll be able to give this idiot some children too, and that they may become as wonderful ninja's as you are."

Naruto had watched her walk back to her husband, help him get up, and as they hooked arms lovingly, they walked off into the other direction.

Ever since then, Naruto had decided she had been right. He had nothing to be ashamed of; on the contrary.

When he had told Sasuke the story that night, he had smiled and said he was grateful the woman had changed his mind.

Naruto was just happy Sasuke hadn't been jealous.

As he walked down the street, thinking of this, a smile appeared on his face. He was truly happy. The pregnancy was so different from last time… No, he had changed. The people around him had changed him, not the difference in pregnancy (although that might be a factor in it as well). He was comfortable walking on the street now. He felt great.

He even started humming, as tired as he was, the grumpy feeling he had before all gone now. He would come home, hug Ren, kiss Sasuke on the mouth and go to bed.

"Hokage-sama, Hokage-sama!" a high voice called. Naruto turned to the side to see a young boy standing in the doorway, waving at him.

"Hey there," Naruto said, walking over to the young boy. He couldn't be much older than 5 years. "How are you doing?" Naruto asked, kneeling in front of the brown haired boy.

Shyly the boy started shifting around. "Don't be shy," Naruto grinned, ruffling his hand through the boy's hair.

"I'm not!" the boy told him bravely.

"Ito? Are you ready for school? Ito?"

"Oh, your mother is calling you," Naruto said.

"She's not my mother," Ito answered softly. "But I do love her."

Naruto smiled. "That's wonderful."

A young woman appeared in the hall. "Ito, whe- Oh… Oh, Hokage-sama." Panicked the woman looked around, not sure what to do with the Hokage in front of her. She started pulling her hand through her hair, as if she tried to comb it and straightened her skirt. She gave Naruto a small but polite bow, and waited for him to speak first.

"Oh, hello." Naruto grinned. "Ito-kun here was calling me. You don't mind, do you?"

The woman shook her head. "N-no, of course not…. Hokage-sama."

Ito started giggling. "Miyo is a big fan of you," he told Naruto. The woman gasped.

"Oh?" Naruto asked, looking up to the blushing woman.

Ito, his shyness replaced by a young boy's pleasure to embarrass others. "Tou-san always says he wonders why she did not marry you instead of hi-" The woman clasped her hands over the boy's mouth.

Laughing uncomfortably, she pulled the child away from the door. "Ahahahaha… he's such a funny boy. Likes joking around."

Naruto just looked at the two for a while. Then he smiled broadly. "Have fun at school, Ito-kun." He stood up. "Hope to see you again sometime." Before he turned around he added, "both of you." He walked away. He really liked being Hokage. It was the best job in the world!

-x-

Ren sat on the couch. Next to her sat Sakumo. Both were looking down at the floor, as if they had done something bad; which was actually the case.

"You are supposed to be in bed! YOU ARE SICK! You don't go outside, WITHOUT a coat and play in the garden when you are _not feeling well_! Especially not climb trees! What if you had fallen down because you got unwell?"

"I didn't…" Ren muttered.

"THAT DOESN'T MATTER!" Sasuke yelled. Oh, he was so very, very angry.

Ren's lip quivered. Sakumo glanced over to her before looking back at the ground. He didn't dare to comfort her at this moment.

"Sakumo, you can play here in the living room, but without too much noise. Ren will have to take rest and stay on the couch." Sasuke took a deep breath, trying to calm himself a little.

"Yes…. Otou-chan," Ren muttered while Sakumo at the same time said, "Yes, Sasuke-san."

Sasuke angrily walked out of the room, to the kitchen.

"Wow, you were really pissed."

Sasuke looked up and saw Naruto leaning against the doorframe. "Naruto?"

"In the flesh," Naruto grinned, walking over to Sasuke.

"Home early," Sasuke said, walking to the kitchen sink. Naruto could hear he wasn't pleased with the fact that it was 'home early' (in the morning) instead of 'home late' (at night).

Naruto hugged Sasuke from behind, resting his head against Sasuke's back.

"Was I too harsh?" Sasuke asked as he put one hand on top of Naruto's.

"No, you were right. She's ill; though maybe you were a bit too concerned."

Sasuke sighed again, lowering his head.

Naruto smiled. "Something's bothering you," he finally said softly. He needed to say it; he wanted it to be out in the open.

"Of course there is," Sasuke said grumpily.

"But you're not telling me." Naruto held Sasuke more firmly, pressing his head against his back.

"Because you already know," Sasuke answered.

"No…" Naruto let go of Sasuke, who turned around. "I'm not sure I know."

The raven frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"You know I've noticed something is bothering you. I just don't know exactly what it is yet."

Sasuke lowered his eyes, realizing what Naruto was talking about.

Naruto stepped away and sat down on a kitchen chair, his hand resting on his stomach while he closed his eyes. "I'm tired."

Sasuke sat down too. "You should rest a bit," he said, laying his hand on top of the one of Naruto's that lay on the table. "You look pale. I told you not to work all night."

Naruto didn't answer, or open his eyes. Instead he entwined his fingers with Sasuke's.

Sasuke let him sit like this for a while before he stood up to make some breakfast for Naruto. "You didn't eat anything either, did you?" He did not sound angry, but Naruto knew he was doing his best to refrain from scolding.

"Hm," Naruto grumbled.

After a while he opened his eyes and leaned on the table, watching Sasuke cook all kinds of things. It smelled good, and he finally noticed how hungry he was.

He dropped his head on the table. "Hurry~"

Sasuke saw he should not scold Naruto about not having eaten enough, and instead put a plate with meat in front of him. "I noticed you haven't been eating much meat lately. Your fangs…" Sasuke pointed to Naruto's elongated teeth.

Naruto looked away as he piece by piece shredded the meat, making sure not to make eye contact with Sasuke, which confirmed to Sasuke that he hadn't.

Sasuke turned back to the stove. He realized that by not telling Naruto about what he knew about Ren maybe was an even worse plan than telling him. Now Naruto had noticed something was going on and had started to worry, because he did not know what it was that made Sasuke worry. He should just have told Naruto.

He turned around, looking at the slightly pale face due to the lack of sleep and maybe also from hunger and not having eaten meat in the last week. Sasuke pulled his hand through his hair. As soon Naruto had slept, he would talk to him.

Naruto was already waiting for more food when Sasuke gave him eggs and bread.

"Hmmm," Naruto muttered. Sasuke was glad to see the food was bringing a smile to Naruto's face.

"Oh, you have some rice too?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke slowly turned around to prepare some rice. The leftovers from this morning probably wouldn't be enough. "You like something el-" Sasuke stopped when he saw Naruto had already finished all the food. He blinked before turning around and preparing more food.

"You cook so well," Naruto complimented, rubbing his stomach. "I need a bathroom break to create more space."

Naruto was gone before Sasuke could answer. "He has more energy left than I thought."

Suddenly silvery white hair appeared around the corner. Sasuke looked down to Sakumo. "What is it?"

Sakumo smiled. "Is it okay I play outside? Ren fell asleep."

Sasuke nodded, but Sakumo did not walk away. Again Sasuke turned his head to the young boy. "What?"

Sakumo flinched, but then came closer. "Could I… have some?" He pointed to the fruit Sasuke was preparing for Naruto. Sasuke of course welcomed kids eating fruit, and handed the boy an apple. "Don't bring any mud inside."

"I won't!" Sakumo called before disappearing.

"What did you say about me still having energy?" Naruto asked, peeking around Sasuke's back as his hands snaked their way around Sasuke's waist.

"Oh, just that you have enough." Sasuke smiled as he felt Naruto's stomach press against his back.

Naruto took the bowl of rice standing there and started eating. He turned around and leaned with his back against Sasuke's back. A purring sound rose up. "You have some fruit, right?"

"Yes," Sasuke answered, handing Naruto a different bowl. He felt Naruto move away from him, and turned to see him standing next to him. "What are you doing?"

Naruto was mixing the rice and the fruit. "You have some meet? Raw is fine by me."

Sasuke blinked before denying Naruto the raw meat. Eventually he handed Naruto some ham, only because he saw no other option.

"You have some ketchup?" Naruto asked.

"Ketch…up?" Sasuke couldn't help but think that would be disgusting.

Naruto frowned as he looked up to Sasuke. "Ketchup," he said.

Sasuke hardly dared to hand him the bottle, looking in horror when Naruto put it on top of the rice with fruit and ham.

To top it all off, Naruto went to the fridge to get whipped cream. Sasuke was sure he would vomit if he had to eat that.

"Ah, this tastes so good. Why haven't I ever done this before?" Naruto asked himself as he sat down at the kitchen table.

"If you weren't pregnant, I wouldn't ever let you eat it," Sasuke said, watching Naruto happily purr.

"You know, being pregnant has its advantages," Naruto said. "Otherwise I would never have invented this meal."

Finally, after another half an hour of eating, Naruto had eaten enough. He shuffled into the living room over to his little girl lying on the couch.

He sat down next to her and lifted her up. She sleepily looked up to him before shuffling closer and hugging him, resting against his side while hugging his stomach.

Sasuke watched the two from the kitchen.

Naruto hugged her back and rested his head above Ren's. "Let's sleep together," he said.

Ren nodded. "I like that," she muttered softly.

-x-

Naruto sat crossed legged between the grasses in their garden. His orange shirt shifting with the breeze and his yellow spikes softly waved back and forth in the same rhythm.

"So, Sasuke, tell me what is wrong with Ren."

Sasuke was kneeling opposite Naruto, his legs under his buttocks; his hair also waved in the wind. "I told Tsunade about a week ago that I think the exercises I practised with Ren might have been the cause of her illness."

Naruto wanted to respond, but wisely did not, and let Sasuke finish. "And two days ago Tsunade confirmed what I thought was happening to Ren. Her chakra, it's like a toxin to her, slowly poisoning her body. The more she uses it, like when she's playing outside, the faster it spreads through her body until finally her body can't handle it anymore and she gets sick. After lying still and sleeping for a while her body heals itself."

"But how did your exercise-"

"Because I thought her to control her chakra, the poison did not spread as quickly as usual, because she kept it back more. Of course, she is still a child and can't completely lock her chakra away. She still used it, though maybe slightly more coordinated and less in smaller quantities. That doesn't mean it wasn't slowly poisoning her, and because I thought her to control her chakra, it was also able to collect more of the poison."

Naruto nodded. "That's why she has been ill for so long."

"I'm afraid she might have died if she had continued the exercises…"

Naruto looked up. "Don't say that!" Naruto had slapped Sasuke in the face before Sasuke could even realize what had happened.

Shocked he looked up to Naruto. "Don't ever say something like that again! You tried to help her!"

Sasuke blinked and rubbed his sore cheek. "I… I won't."

Naruto crossed his arms and gave one firm nod of his head.

"So, uh…" Sasuke started, a bit confused by what had happened.

"You don't have a solution to this yet, do you?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No, but I can feel I'm so close."

"Tell me," Naruto said.

"Well, it's complicated, I thought if we give her a chakra transfusion and apply a seal to the tubes and create a loop in the second order of the fourth-"

"Stop, stop, Sasuke." Naruto shook his head. "It's me you're talking to. Be simple."

Sasuke tried to think of a simple way to explain his idea. "I wanted to… make something," he said, hoping Naruto would think it was clearer than he himself thought it was, "to transfuse her chakra with… clean chakra."

"Why don't we seal it off?" Naruto asked.

"Then she won't be able to use chakra at all!"

Naruto shook his head, "No I meant why don't we close off the origin of the evil chakra?"

"Because we don't know where it comes from exactly, and because it might very well kill her."

"Then why don't we filter her chakra?"

"That's what I want to do with the chakra transfusions-"

"No, why don't we filter _her_ chakra, not give her other chakra?"

Sasuke blinked… Was it really this simple?

"Of course, I have no idea how to do that," Naruto said, "could we perhaps-"

He stopped talking, and looked up to Sasuke. He had the same look in his eyes as Naruto. "A seal," they both said.

"We can interchange the first order with the centre and-" Naruto listened to Sasuke's explanation and actually understood where he was going with it. "And if the second and fifth link interconnect-"

"Seventh," Naruto said.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"The second and seventh link."

Sasuke thought this over. "Of course…" He stood up. "I need paper."

Naruto smiled as he saw Sasuke walk away. Sasuke had thought Naruto about the basics and his clan's research about seals. Sasuke knew how to explain these things to Naruto and thus he was able to understand it for the first time in his life, even though he had tried reading about it over a hundred times before.

He still wasn't very good at making seals, Sasuke told him he should write more clearly, but he understood how to make and read them.

Sasuke came back with paper and ink. "Okay, this is what we have now," he said, and started to draw and write beside the drawing, which would be the beginning of a seal.

"Don't forget the third base…"

Naruto smiled and saw Sasuke smile back at him as they started forming a seal. "This will work."

"It will."

-oXo-


	24. Chapter 24: Love and Caring

Yes, I died… but look! I came back, just to post a new chapter! GASP, yes, I did, I still can't believe it myself. I'm sure you all hate me by now for not writing… But demonangel59 reminded me to start writing again, so I did ^^

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

My thanks to MS3923 for beta-ing this chapter. You really are the best ;)

-oXo-

**_Chapter 24: Love and caring_**

_9__th__ of June_

It was a very sunny day which was why Naruto sat between the soft green grass while Ren was running around him in circles.

He threw out a ball for her to catch every now and then. It was nice to sit in the warm sun with a slight spring breeze ruffling through his hair. Naruto shifted on the grass, and laid his hand on his growing stomach. He could feel something shift inside of him and he smiled.

Ren threw the ball back at him, and he caught it with one hand, only to throw if off again. Ren ran after the ball, giggling, happy to be allowed to play outside.

Naruto smiled at the running child while rubbing his stomach. Once he noticed this unconscious motion, he looked down, and stopped. When he again felt some movement, he started to drum his fingers on his skin instead. He felt the pressure on his bladder, especially when the child within him pushed against it, but he didn't feel like standing up just yet.

Tsunade had told him the baby was growing better than Ren had. The baby was about the right size on the average line on a chart Tsunade had shown him. Naruto had also noticed this. He felt bigger than during his last pregnancy five years ago, but miraculously he felt way better. Yes, his hips usually ached a little at the end of the day, and he could feel his back after a long day of sitting still behind his desk (thus he tried to move around more), but that was all to be expected when carrying around such a weight. The best thing was how the baby wasn't pressing down on his organs so much like last time. Tsunade had found out that the chakra barrier around the womb was actually working like a shock barrier, or like a cushion. The womb had also moved more to the front of his body instead of back to his insides.

Ren threw the ball at him, and Naruto caught it easily. He threw it into a different direction and saw Ren chase the ball. She finally caught it, and they continued throwing the ball over. Ren was doing so much better than over a month ago, and Naruto was so very delighted to see how much healthier she was now. It had been exactly a month since he and Sasuke had applied the seal to her, but the effects it had on her were fantastic. She needed less sleep and had much more energy.

Sasuke's mood had improved too, which Naruto had noticed that all too often in the last month. Sasuke was on a mission right now, together with Sakura.

Naruto stared at Ren as she followed a bee around the garden, his mind drifting off.

He secretly would have liked to go on a mission with the two of them again, but he knew he couldn't. His hand moved to his side, moved under his belly before he closed his eyes and let the wind cool him off.

He was about to lay down when his fox ears detected two familiar footsteps. Naruto opened his azure eyes and watched how two of his students came walking around the house, happily chatting with each other, even flirting. Naruto smiled at the happy couple and leant back on his hands, looking up to the sky.

Ren finally noticed the two visitors and greeted them before going back to her play. The two figures neared Naruto and sat down opposite him.

"Sensei," Kenji muttered, looking up to the sky as well as if something important could be seen up there.

"Naruto-sensei," Ryomaru said, sitting down closely to Kenji.

Naruto looked down at the two and grinned. "The two of you have the day off?" he asked.

"Just like you," Kenji said. He looked up to the tree hanging over them. "It's a good day to be off."

Ryomaru nodded and blushed when fingers entwined with his.

"Is Eri-chan still on that mission I gave her?" Naruto asked, watching the joining hands.

Ryomaru was looking to the side, and his cheeks had grown redder once he had noticed his sensei was watching them. "Y-y-yes," he stuttered.

Kenji finally looked down, glanced at Ryomaru before he turned to Naruto. "I can't believe she's in Sasuke-sama's ANBU team," he said. A slight disappointment sounded through his voice, as if he would have liked to have taken her place. Even now, while he was grown up, he still admired Sasuke greatly, and Naruto didn't think that would ever change.

"Sasuke said she is a fine kunoichi," Naruto said. He smiled, happy he had brought up such a good shinobi, and felt pride in his chest as he thought about it.

Ryomaru was still interested in the flowers to their side, his black eyes moving from one swaying flower to the next. He was too gentle to be even wanting to take part of ANBU. Though it surely was a loss with his expertise on poisons and how to cure them. Naruto watched the green-haired man for a while before he twitched his tail and turned to Kenji, who seemed to have been staring at his round stomach. When Naruto turned to him he quickly looked away as if he thought Naruto wouldn't have noticed him staring.

"I heard from someone that there's a nice apartment free in the centre of Konoha."

Kenji looked back to Naruto, narrowing his eyes. "So?" he asked, sounding suspicious.

"I'm just saying," Naruto said. He looked down at the two boy's joining hands. "I just thought you two would like to have a place together. It's not easy to find a good place, so I thought I should mention it."

"L-l-living t-together?" Ryomaru asked, suddenly snapping back to the conversation and looking to his side, directly into Kenji's yellow eyes.

Kenji seemed to be thinking this over while he looked back at Ryomaru.

Naruto smiled and fell back, laying on his back as he looked up into the blue cloudless sky. "I remember it took Sasuke and I quite some time to find this house. We argued a lot," Naruto grinned, laughing softly, "but I guess that's only normal for us. That's the way we discussed everything back then. He first wanted me to move in with him, but I refused. We had a massive fight and actually didn't speak to each other for a whole week. That was until Sakura-chan finally had enough of it, and beat us up during a training session."

Ryomaru sniggered softly, not sure if it had been meant as a funny story or not. Kenji was frowning and staring at his sensei again. "Why are you telling us this?" he asked through narrowed eyes, observing his sensei closely.

Naruto closed his eyes and let the wind move the grass for a while before he answered. "I actually have no idea." His ears twitched in the wind and his tail shifted over the flat grass upon which he lay.

It was silent for quite some time, only the wind blowing around them with Ren yelling something every now and then. Ryomaru leant closer to Kenji, their shoulders touching as they looked around the beautiful garden. Kenji looked over to their sensei, who had his eyes closed, before he started to nibble on Ryo's ear. Ryomaru turned brick red instantly, rivalling the red roses not that far away from him. His eyes darted to Naruto before looking around the garden. He tried to push Kenji away, but the orange-haired man refused. After a short battle Ryomaru hit Kenji hard on the shoulder, and moved a couple of centimetres away from him, feeling way too embarrassed to be nearer. Kenji mutter angrily, rubbing his sore arm and turned to look at Ren, who was sitting very still beside the pond, looking at the fish swimming around.

"Naruto-sensei?" Ryomaru asked, and Naruto opened his eyes. "You seem to be doing quite well," he said softly.

Naruto got up, and looked back at the green-haired man in front of him. "I am," he smiled. He placed his hands next to him on the grass. "I really feel quite great." He watched the smile he received.

"Yokatta," Ryomaru said kindly. "I really didn't like seeing you in so much pain last time." He shuffled closer to Naruto. "What changed though?"

Naruto shrugged, but saw Ryomaru's curiosity reflected in his eyes. "You can see for yourself," he said, pointing at his belly.

Ryomaru grinned and immediately his hands hovered over Naruto's stomach. His hands glowed up and moved around while he placed them on Naruto's stomach.

Naruto had come to like the warm touch of the medics' chakra on his skin. He watched Ryomaru examine him, softly muttering to himself, before he turned to look at Kenji. He saw the man -in his eyes still a boy- stare at Ren, who was still sitting very, very quietly next to the pond.

"The seal is working then?" Kenji asked. Maybe he had felt Naruto's eyes.

"Yes," Naruto said. "No side effects at all. It does exactly what it is meant to do, and it is exactly what she needed."

Kenji turned back to his sensei, and watched Ryomaru's hands prod him. He rolled his eyes before he turned his eyes to Naruto as his blue eyes were still upon him.

It was as if he needed to ask Naruto something, as if he was about to open his mouth and say something, but couldn't. Naruto observed him for a while longer, but neither said anything. Finally Ryomaru's prodding had made the baby move, a foot pushing uncomfortably into his bladder.

"The womb is so unique and fascinating," Ryomaru said when he retracted his hands, seeing Naruto shift on the spot while placing his hand on the side of his belly; there where most of the movement had been. "It's incredible you can keep something like that inside your body, sensei." He seemed very happy about having observed the unusual womb, so Naruto let him talk. "If only that doctor had used it more carefully, his research could be so valuable," Ryomaru continued softly. "The texture and the way the womb can keep on being there, taking over all the functions of a real womb, it's-"

Kenji sighed loudly, letting Ryomaru know he was bored. Ryomaru stopped talking and cast down his eyes. Naruto smiled. "I bet you and Tsunade could have a great chat."

Kenji stood up. "Come Ryo, let's go."

Ryomaru looked up to Kenji before he nodded and stood up. He looked down at Naruto, who held up his hand to him, and helped the blond stand up.

"I really, really have to go now," Naruto said once he stood and the pressure on his bladder seemed to have increased.

"Good luck, sensei," Kenji said while turning away. "Bye Ren-chan."

Ren looked up, away from the pond, and waved quietly at him.

Ryomaru waved to her as well before he turned back to Naruto, who was stretching his back. "I hope you come visit us on the training field again sometime. I bet Kenji would really like that, and Eri-chan even more so," he said softly while Kenji was already moving around the house.

"I could pass by on my next day off," Naruto said, starting to walk back to the house.

"You're still so busy," Ryomaru said. "You should take it more easy. Tsunade-sama can take-"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Naruto asked. He stopped walking and turned to Ryomaru, placing his hand on his student's shoulder. "I want to do my duty as Hokage, and no one can stop me from doing so." He smiled. "Not even a baby."

Ryomaru stared back into his black eyes and sighed, giving up.

Naruto grinned and squeezed his shoulder before he stepped onto the porch. "Have fun with Kenji-kun." He let go of Ryomaru and walked into the house.

Ryomaru froze, glanced over to Ren, turned bright red and quickly walked around the house to Kenji, who frowned at his red cheeks. "What did sensei say?" he asked curiously. Ryomaru didn't answer, just stuttered something irregular.

Naruto grinned as he moved to the toilet. He finally realised why Kakashi had always teased him so much; it was fun.

-X-

He curled up, his tail close to his chest while a hand stroked him gently behind the ear. He smiled and looked up at the owner of the hand, whose dark, yet kind eyes looked down upon him.

He purred out of content before his hand reached out to the other, stroking the soft skin of the face above him.

First his fingers trailed over the sharp chin, before exploring the shape of a cheek, slightly red and blushing.

The fingers moved further, feeling every bit of skin, touching it, memorizing it.

His pinkie touched a nose, moved over it and felt the other cheek below his fingertips. All the time the two dark eyes kept watching him.

The fingers moved closer to an ear, but his hand stopped right before he could wrap his fingers around the earlobe. He closed his eyes and purred softly as the scratching hand behind his ear hit just the right spot.

His fingers curled up before they could have touched the skin of the ear, and his hand almost started to retreat.

It felt too good.

He turned his head, moving the pointed furry ear further into the hand that was scratching it.

Angling his face, a wide grin spread over it, and still all the time the purring continued.

His hand started to lower little by little, slowly moving away from the face.

The dark eyes noticed the lowering hand and watched it carefully. It was as if they were waiting for the hand to reach a certain height. As if he hoped the hand would come back to his ear before reaching this certain level, knowing that if it stopped lowering before reaching that threshold there would be no need to intervene.

But the hand lowered below the threshold, and a cool hand wrapped around the warm hand, which made Naruto open his azure blue eyes.

The cool hand directed Naruto's hand back to the side of Sasuke's face, where it was being pressed against the soft skin.

Dark eyes were still watching him, always, as if they would forever study his face, never to move away from him ever again.

It was a soothing thought they would always be there when he would open his eyes, guarding over him.

Always they were there, whenever he turned his own blues to the dark orbs, they were always watching him. From the moment he opened his eyes after a good long sleep till the moment he closed them as he lay comfortably on the warm and inviting lap.

Always, always they were there.

And he'd grown so very accustomed to them being there, watching over him, that he wouldn't know how to live without those two dark orbs in his life.

It made him feel safe and at ease. He didn't have to worry about anything, as long as these two eyes were there, he wouldn't have any fears.

The dark eyes were soft, caring and friendly while they also held something threatening in them. They showed strength and certainty.

The eyes were complimentary with his own. They finished him.

It might be strange to think that eyes could compliment another set of eyes, or that they could be so important to someone, but they were. Though he could probably never quite put into words what they really meant to him.

As he thought about this, his hand still trapped between the warm hand and the slightly red cheek, Naruto wanted to mention all this aloud, trying to formulate his true feelings, but every time he parted his lips ever so slightly the words that had been lying on his tongue, ready to be spoken, were lost. As if they immediately slipped through the opening between his lips and escaped from his mouth before they could ever be put into sound.

He tried to speak a couple of times, but eventually he ceased his attempts and just closed his mouth while fingers slipped between his own.

Again he smiled and closed his eyes, feeling overwhelmed.

His tail swished over his side, brushing his round belly and hitting Sasuke's chest, before he pulled his knees up, moving his legs closer to his stomach.

He brushed his head over the legs upon which his head rested, turning his cheek onto them. Then his cheek was rubbing over the fabric of the pants.

He wanted to bury his face in them, he wanted to hide his emotions.

But he didn't. Instead he moved his hand away from the warm grasp, only to wrap it around Sasuke's comforting torso. He gripped the shirt tightly in his hands, never letting go again, holding Sasuke close to him.

His, he would always be his. And he would never let go. His fingers gripped the shirt even tighter, his knuckles pushing against the skin under it. He would from now on never let Sasuke go. They would stay like this forever, undisturbed.

"You're mine," a deep voice whispered.

Blue eyes looked up into black.

"What?" he asked the black eyes softly.

"You're mine," Sasuke repeated softly, "All mine."

He pressed his head against the other's stomach, brushing his hair over the dark shirt. "I'm yours," he said. His blue eyes wondered over the fabric of the pants on which he lay. "And I will always be."

Sasuke smirked and kept scratching Naruto's fox ears, listening to the loud purring, feeling it vibrate against his legs. The soft tail brushed against his chest again, it's white tip moving the fabric.

He watched Naruto close his eyes while his hand played with the hem of his shirt. He soon got lost in his own thoughts and didn't even notice the tickling sensation from Naruto's fiddling fingers disappearing. That was until the hand was placed somewhere else, and in such a way he just had to notice.

Sasuke looked down at his crotch.

Naruto was smiling. "You're hard," he whispered.

"I've been holding back for a long time," Sasuke said, still scratching Naruto's head.

"A long time," Naruto repeated softly. "Probably from your point of view," Naruto said. "In your condition."

Sasuke said nothing for a while. "My condition," he repeated. Yes, he certainly was in a 'condition'. He felt excided at every little touch from Naruto. This last few weeks had been so very hard on him, it was as if his senses toward Naruto had ten-folded. The slightest smile, the briefest eye contact with the most bluest of blue, and he felt his lower region stir. It was absurd how responsive his body had become. He couldn't remember it being so bad five years ago.

"You want me to do something about it?" Naruto asked softly, pulling his fingers together, making Sasuke shift.

Naruto continued pestering Sasuke's restricted erection, to which the raven couldn't help but groan softly. "Very much so," he managed to say.

Naruto didn't move for some time, only his hand and fingers shifting over Sasuke's crotch, and his tail still sweeping up and down his body. That was until Sasuke could no longer contain himself and moved Naruto into a sitting position. He held Naruto's shoulders, and saw a foxy grin aimed at him before the blond freed himself from his grasp, sliding down the couch carefully.

Soon Sasuke's pants and underwear were gone, and slicking and sucking noises sounded in the otherwise silent room. Sasuke moaned and breathed raggedly while his hands were lost in Naruto's blond spikes and around the black fox ears.

_Yes_, Sasuke concluded, _this condition I'm in._ His senses seemed heightened, more sensitive. Naruto's touch on his skin was almost painful. He wanted Naruto to be everywhere on his body, around his body, maybe even in his body. He wasn't sure anymore what he exactly wanted, but it didn't matter because everything Naruto did was wonderful.

This strange jutsu that the crazy doctor had invented… would he have intended for it to be like this? Or was it just how Sasuke's body coped with it?

He didn't care. Slowly everything else around him, and his thoughts as well were pushed aside as something more powerful pushed itself to the surface. He didn't know how often he'd whispered Naruto's name by now, but it didn't matter.

A most wonderful and pleasurable feeling spread through his body, and that was all that was left of the world for the time being. It took him quite some time to recover, but when he finally was able to open his eyes, he met blues. He was looking into an ocean, a clear blue sea as far as the eye could reach. A clear blue sky made it almost impossible to see the horizon, to distinguish between the sky and the water. He was lost in the peaceful and calm view, and it wasn't until he heard Naruto's voice that he was able to come back to the present.

"Want to take a shower?"

Sasuke grinned, unable to stop the feeling of something stirring deep inside of him. "Only if you're joining me."

-X-

Sasuke watched Akira next to a girl with shoulder length light red, orangey hair. They were talking and laughing together while they sat at a dead tree trunk a couple of metres away from him. He couldn't hear what they were talking about, but he could see they enjoyed each other's company.

He turned his head to the side and saw Naruto sitting on a table cloth on the forest floor. He was eating some noodles while Ren was telling him about having seen a perfect tree for a swing.

Sasuke turned his eyes back to Akira. Yesterday he had officially introduced Kaori to them as his girlfriend. Sasuke still wasn't sure if he agreed to it, if he could accept it, but he had said nothing much about it. He had listened to Naruto and had kept his mouth, keeping his real and still uncertain thoughts to himself. _'Give her a chance,'_ Naruto had told him.

Sasuke had already made a list in his head of things he had seen that he didn't like about the two, and grudgingly he couldn't help but note some positive sides to it as well. His son seemed really happy.

He turned back to Naruto, seeing that Ren had disappeared once more, gone to play in the forest. Naruto had just finished his second bowl of noodles, and was looking around for something else to eat when he felt the dark eyes upon him. His ears twitched first before he turned his head to Sasuke, and grinned.

"Want something too?"

Sasuke bit his tongue, hoping it would calm him down a little. "No thanks, I had enough."

Naruto shrugged, pulled some chicken leg from somewhere, and started ripping pieces of flesh from the bone. "It's strange to have a Family Day, don't you think?" Naruto said, staring at Akira and Kaori before turning to Sasuke.

Sasuke shrugged, not sure if he agreed. "Might be more difficult to have one in the near future when Ren will attend at the academy."

Naruto chewed on the meet and looked over to Sasuke. "Oh!" he suddenly said, lowering the chicken. "I forgot to tell you." He leant closer to Sasuke. "It's secret, and I only received an answer yesterday, but Gaara will come to Konoha soon." Naruto smiled. "I plan on sending you and your team to escort him."

"Doesn't he have his own guards?" Sasuke said, not seeing any reason at all to protect the Kazekage, who could very well handle things on his own.

"It's protocol," Naruto said. He started nibbling at the bone in his hand again.

"Can't you let me guard him once he's _here_?" Sasuke asked, turning to look at his son once more.

Naruto dropped the clean bone on a plate and tilted his head. "Oooh?" he said, lifting his hand to his mouth.

Sasuke glanced at him for a second, but his head was still turned to Akira.

Naruto grinned. "Could it be…"

Sasuke said nothing.

"You don't want to leave?" Naruto asked, shuffling closer to Sasuke.

Sasuke's face was still set on the setting 'emotionless', though his right eyebrow twitched ever so slightly.

"Separated from me for such a long time. No one to touch, to kiss or to play with," Naruto went on, seeing a shiver run down Sasuke's spine. Naruto leant in closer, his face next to Sasuke's ear, and he continued in a whisper. "No one to play with you."

Sasuke jerked his head, and turned it to look down at Naruto, whose fox ears happily moved up and down, a big grin on his face and his eyes sparkling happily. He looked down into those blue eyes. A soft tail brushed against his arm, and he couldn't control his body any longer. His hand reached for Naruto, firmly grabbed the collar of his shirt and kissed the blond.

Naruto didn't struggle, he let it all happen, and even closed his eyes in pleasure. His hand moved to Sasuke's face and placed it on the soft cheek.

When the tongue inside his mouth was pulled back, and his tender lips no longer felt the warmth of Sasuke's mouth, Naruto opened his eyes again. "Please don't make me leave you," Sasuke asked softly.

Naruto couldn't resist the eyes, the ever so slightly pink hue on the pale cheeks, and especially not the playful hand under his shirt, tickling his tanned skin. "I promise I won't," Naruto said.

The hands under his shirt held him tightly, and Naruto was pulled closer toward Sasuke, pulled into another deep kiss.

A little further away a deep sigh sounded before the shuffling of two pairs of feet moved away. Naruto heard them walking into the direction in which Ren was playing, and could finally fully concentrate on Sasuke. His right hand still on Sasuke's face moved up into his hairline while the other wrapped around his shoulder.

Sasuke pushed his lips harder and harder against Naruto's, actually pushing him back. Naruto felt his strong hands, wrapped around his back, securely holding him. Thus he let Sasuke lower him onto the fabric placed over the dead leaves on the forest floor. The raven hovered over him, his hands now roaming over his extended stomach, up to his chest, all the while pulling Naruto's shirt up along with his searching hands, and finally pulled the orange sweater off. Next he started on his own shirt, Naruto helping him unbutton the black coat Sasuke was currently wearing over his white shirt.

Sasuke was just lifting his white shirt over his head when Naruto suddenly gasped, and his hands moved to his belly. Sasuke looked down at him, and saw a mix of discomfort and something close to pleasure on his face. Sasuke grinned. "Just on time; this baby knows what we want."

He lowered his pants before he moved back to Naruto, placing his hand next to Naruto's. Under Naruto's belly, moving his hand a little into his pants, Sasuke felt the energetic movement of the baby. It was kicking his hand and probably more if he listened to Naruto's soft groans. Sasuke moved his hand up a little, and firmly grabbed the elastic band around Naruto's waist with both hands before he pulled the blue pants down.

Naruto moaned softly when his semi-erection was freed, and even more so when the baby kept attacking his poor, still empty bladder.

Sasuke hovered over him and smirked. "Want some help with that?"

Naruto knew very well Sasuke needed the help more than he did, but he nodded anyways, knowing that was what Sasuke wanted of him. Indeed the smirk became more genuine, and Sasuke's hands moved over his hips, down his thighs until they finally reached the inside of his legs. He spread Naruto's legs apart, and not long thereafter Naruto felt something else move inside him beside the still active baby, who almost seemed to try turning around by the feeling of the many movements it made.

And so finally, not that much later, while Sasuke rocked his hips back and forth to move inside Naruto, the baby trampling against his prostate from the other side, and a hand around his hard penis, Naruto came all too easily.

As he lay on the ground, panting and trying to catch his breath, Sasuke still doing all the work above him, Naruto looked up to the swishing green leaves high above him with a clear blue sky beyond that. He smiled and wrapped his legs tighter around Sasuke, his tail brushing against the raven's legs.

"We should definitely go pick-nicking more often."

-x-

That evening Sasuke walked up the stairs with a blond girl in his arms, except she wasn't so very blond anymore at the moment. She was muddy, sand all over and in her clothes, and leaves seem to come from places where they shouldn't be. Sasuke had no idea what his little girl had been doing in the forest, but it was as if she had dug herself into the ground by the looks of it.

Ren happily hummed and played with the hair in the back of his neck while she let Sasuke carry her to the bathroom. Inside the tiled room Sasuke took off her clothes, leaving behind a sand-castle worth of sand and leaves once she was undressed. He put her into the warm bath where she sat down, and started washing her back.

"Whatever did you do?" Sasuke asked, more to himself than actually asking his daughter, but apparently she had heard him.

"Akira-nii made me a swing," she said. "I helped a bit, but onii-chan can walk up trees so much easier than I can climb." She turned around in the bath, facing Sasuke. "So when it was done I showed onii-chan and Kaori-chan some tricks." She pointed at her knee that stuck out of the water, showing a bruise. "I fell a couple of times, so onii-chan and Kaori-chan made a big heap of leaves and sand for me to land in," she said smiling happily.

Sasuke smiled back at her, putting soap in her wild hair. "That sounds nice."

Ren closed her eyes, and let Sasuke wash her hair. Once he was done, he ushered her to stand up, and wrapped a warm towel around her before lifting her out of the bath onto another towel on the floor where he started to dry her off. She grinned all the while, liking the feeling of being dried off.

When Sasuke lowered the towel, he looked down at Ren's small back, and his eyes lingered on the two dark shapes on her sides. On each side of Ren they had placed a seal, a seal that would filter her own chakra, purify it so to say. The curling shapes and scribbles were fat, almost making her sides completely black as the writing touched each other.

Sasuke let his hand glide over it, which made Ren look around. "Otou-chan?"

Sasuke looked up to her. "You feel better now, don't you?" he asked, his hand still following the seal on her left hip.

Ren nodded. "Much better." She looked down at the scribbling too and touched it with her index finger. "It's darker than before," she said.

Sasuke had noticed so too, but knew this was supposed to happen. "Yes, it is."

Apparently he had been staring at her for too long, because Ren walked away and started to dress herself on her own. Sasuke cleaned the floor from all the sand and water, while Ren dressed up. Once she was done, her green pyjamas on, Sasuke took her to bed, read her a bedtime story, and finally kissed her good night.

Once he came downstairs in the kitchen he found Naruto waiting for him there at the kitchen table with a warm cup of tea. He sat down opposite the blond, and looked up to his face.

"It's almost time to clean the seal," he told Naruto.

Naruto's mind wandered back to over a month ago.

_He was in a vaguely familiar room. He had been here before but could hardly remember anything from that visit. In this room the Nine tails had been re-sealed inside of him, and it was also the place where he had grown a pair of fox ears. Naruto wasn't bothered being here though, not only because he couldn't really remember anything that had happened back then, but also because he didn't mind what had happened to him. He liked the ears and tail he had._

_In the middle of the small wooden house, much like a cabin, stood a wooden table. The room, just like the table, was decorated with all kinds of ornaments. Naruto had never noticed this before, but of course he hadn't really been paying any attention to the interior of the room last time. The ornaments that seemed to support the wooden beams in the roof looked like claws or demon heads. There were fake pillars carved into the wood of the wall that showed all kinds of creatures stacked on top of each other, holding up the apparently heavy roof by the looks of their pained faces. It actually looked kind of creepy in the pale light of a few lit candles held up by hands sticking out the walls, no bodies visible._

"_Uhm, I'm not sure this is such a child friendly place," Naruto said, looking around._

_Sasuke looked around as well, and studied an angry looking takuni that was holding up one corner of the small window. "Hm," he said._

"_It has something mythical to it," Sai said, looking around at all the familiar Japanese creatures from folktales and myths. He studied a fighting tiger and dragon, tangled together while they tried to lift the roof as if it didn't bother them in the slightest._

"_Is papa afraid?" Ren asked, looking around from beside Sasuke's leg._

_Naruto chose not to answer. "You like this room, Ren-chan?" He turned to Ren, his ears twitching as a small draft went past his ear._

"_I don't know," Ren told him honestly._

"_It's alright," Sasuke said, "we'll leave soon." He took her small hand and guided her to the table in the middle. He lifted her up, and sat her down on top of it. He hoped she wasn't bothered by the animals carved on the sides, trying to look up at the table, which was supposed to be a turtle turned upside down, though it was a rather square turtle at that._

_Ren looked around before she pulled her knees up to her chest. "I want to go home," she suddenly said._

_Sasuke sat down next to her. "We told you why this has to be done," he said to her, and she nodded._

"_To make me better," she said, pulling at her lime green shirt._

"_Yes, we will apply a seal to you that will make you feel better." Sasuke pulled her against his chest. "It won't hurt, I promise you that."_

_Ren sighed when Sasuke let her go and assured her that everything was going to be okay, before he told her she should lay down. He lifted her shirt up to her waist._

_Naruto stepped to the other side of the table and looked down at her hips, the place where they would apply the seal. Sai was rolling out a big scroll onto the floor. On it he had drawn a big cat consisting out of only scribbling and kanji. The only thing that was missing was the cat's tail._

_Sai knelt down in front of the drawing and held up a brush. He nodded at Sasuke and Naruto, who had been waiting for him to finish._

_Naruto looked down at Ren, who was looking up at her fathers sadly. "You're going to be a ninja, right?" he asked._

_Ren suddenly smiled ever so slightly. "Yes." This seemed to make her a little stronger._

_Then Sasuke turned to Sai and gave him a nod. As on cue Sai started to draw two tails and finished the ink cat on the paper. He held his hands up, folded together into a sign, and mumbled something softly. The cat suddenly stepped off the paper and turned two green eyes at Sai before it turned around, lowered its behind and jumped up the table. Sai stood up to watch it._

_Ren flinched, and shifted on the table once she saw the cat. To reassure her, Naruto moved his hand through her hair, and Sasuke had already reached for her hand, squeezing into it. The cat stared at Ren for a long time before it finally sat down. At that very moment both Naruto and Sasuke moved their hands away from Ren, and at the same time began making a rapid succession of identical hand signs. _

_Ren couldn't differentiate the different seals they made, and instead looked back at the black cat, which stood up, its two tails swishing. Then her eyes widened when the cat bowed, and after that started to split in two. The cat looked pained while the scribbling on its body evenly divided into two beings, one kanji going left while the other went right. Finally there stood two cats, each cat now had one single tail and walked up to either side of Ren. She tried to look at both cats, her head moving from left to right and back._

_All of a sudden Sasuke and Naruto stopped their hand movements, no longer forming any seals, and each grabbed the tail of the cat closest to them. The cats shrieked and howled. Ren was startled, and almost was about to sit up before she remembered she had to stay down. With wonder and slight fear in her eyes she saw how the scribbles that had been shaped into cats shrunk._

_Naruto held the tail of the cat tightly in his grip and poured his will and chakra into it. He muttered as if saying a sutra, while Sasuke was doing the same thing on the opposite site of the table. He willed the cat into the right seal, making it smaller and denser so that it would fit on Ren's body. He held his right hand close to his chest in the seal of confrontation, half a ram sign with two fingers pointing up while the other two curled downwards, held in place by his thumb. Again Sasuke was mirroring him._

_When the cats had shrunk to the right size, looking like mere kittens now, they started meowing. Naruto and Sasuke squeezed harder into the tail and with a shriek the kittens jumped onto Ren's sides. For a moment it looked like they were gently moving their nails in and out over her waist, like cats do when they are content or drinking milk from their mother. Then Naruto and Sasuke let go of the tails. Each cat lay down on her skin and curled their tail around toward Ren's belly before they stopped moving and froze into place. The shape of the cats was not that clear anymore, but Naruto could still make them out. _

_He and Sasuke placed both hands over the new seal, and made it final by sending chakra through it one more time._

_At that Sai knelt down again and began rolling the big scroll up. When Naruto turned his eyes away from the black thin seal on Ren's now slightly red skin, after having checked that it was really right in place, he noticed Ren's eyes were closing. She let out a soft sigh, and fell asleep. He was sure she indeed had not felt any pain, and had only been a little scared, which was to be expected._

_Again he pulled his hand through her soft hair before he looked up to Sasuke, who was pulling her shirt down. Sasuke glanced at him, a shadow of a smile on his face before he lifted Ren up from the table; ready to go home._

Naruto remember how Sasuke and he had worked on that seal for almost a week. Day and night they had worked on it, unable to stop once they had realised what they were supposed to do to help her. Even though Naruto'd had such a sore back that he hadn't been able to sit behind his desk the next week, he had not regretted it one bit once he saw Ren get better every day. A week of scratching and writing on paper all day long had totally been worth it.

After that Sasuke had taken their newly formed plan and seal to Tsunade and some others for a second opinion. They had been quite sure they had made no mistakes, but it was their child they were talking about, and they both weren't quite at Yondaime's level. Finally Sai had helped them quite a bit by drawing the cat and thus working out a complicated start to the seal that Sasuke and he had to shape further into the correct seal.

Because the seal worked like a purifier, a filter, it sucked up the part of Ren's chakra that made her sick, much like a sponge. The writing would become more fat, and the shape of the cats became more clearly. Once they were completely black it was time for Naruto or Sasuke to 'clean the filter' so to say.

Naruto stirred his tea absentmindedly while Sasuke watched him, clearly enjoying Naruto while the blond's mind was wandering off. A strange feeling crawled under his skin, under his fingertips. It turned out so bad that it almost seemed to itch, and he drummed his fingers on the table in the hope to get rid of it. The sound of his fingers made Naruto come back to the present. He sat back, his hand rubbing his round stomach, and he watched Sasuke's fingers.

Sasuke drummed them once more before he wrapped his fingers around his tea cup. When that didn't soothe his fingers either he reached out a hand to Naruto, who watched it inch closer to him without much emotion. "I want to touch you," Sasuke said, finally reaching Naruto's hand.

"Be my guest," Naruto said, drinking his tea. He felt Sasuke's fingers wrap around his left hand before they stayed there, laying still. He lowered his now empty cup and tilted his head. "Better?" he asked.

"Much," Sasuke said, though the feeling of Naruto under his touch was extremely addictive, and now more skin became to itch, needing to touch more of Naruto. This jutsu really had a strange effect on him, though he couldn't say he didn't like it. This time around he thanked the crazy doctor for casting the jutsu upon them.

He stood up and sat down on a chair next to Naruto, shuffling against him before he slung an arm around his shoulders. "But I know something that would make me feel even better."

Naruto rolled his eyes.

-oXo-


	25. Chapter 25: What no one expected to happ

Thanks to all who reviewed, and Midnight Essence in particular ;) You're the best!

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

And then of course, I would be nowhere without my dearest beta MS3923, who still betas for me :D Je bent geweldig!

-oXo-

**Chapter 25: What no one expected to happen…**

_6__th__ of August _

Blue eyes scanned the area. The sun shone in his eyes, making them glister almost like a sapphire blue diamond as the light seemed to enter his irises and lit them up from the inside. He squeezed his eyes a little to protect his eyes from the bright light before turning his head further. He was in the middle of the forest, with the high trees surrounding the open space fully in bloom. Those trees were a perfect hiding place for any ninja. The green of the leaves was a fresh, young green, meaning that the leaves had not been there for a long time yet. He looked at the different kinds of green nature had produced. There was no way that he could give every colour a name.

The wide open space he had chosen to sit down in was perfect.

The wind blew through his hair, making his fringe move over his eyes. He didn't even bother to get it out of his eyes, he just closed them and took a deep breath. His red tail drifted in the wind behind him, and he leant back on the huge boulder he was sitting on. The stone was so very warm, it almost burnt his hands.

When he opened his blue eyes again he blinked a couple of times to focus on a tall person walking towards him. He had bluish dark hair wildly blowing around his face as the wind picked up some. The expression on the face could not be seen, because the sun was too bright. However, the body language of the man was clear. Big strides made him quickly come closer.

The blue eyes closed while he sighed. He pulled up his legs and wrapped his arms around them as finally he could see the dark eyes of the man approaching him.

"What are you doing?" the calm voice drifted over the wind, making it seem distant.

He looked up. "Sitting," he simply said.

Sasuke lowered his eyes over the body of the other.

He felt the eyes looking for something, and of course he knew what they were searching for. He pulled his legs even closer to his stomach. While his left arm tightly held his legs close to his body, his right arm moved over his troubled stomach. He felt skinny and strangely empty.

Sasuke of course noticed this. He said nothing for a while as he looked down at the other.

Blue eyes finally looked up again and met black. He sighed and then the tall man sat down beside his small form. He did nothing else, Sasuke just sat down and looked up into the clear blue sky.

He looked up as well, seeing small wafts of white drift by. "I wanted to be alone," he finally said.

Sasuke looked down at him. "I know."

Blue eyes lowered, and once more he pulled his legs closer to his body when he realised he had relaxed too much. He closed his eyes again as he felt the dark eyes upon his frail body.

"You should not blame yourself," the raven said.

His tail twitched, but he refused to look up at Sasuke.

"It wasn't your fault," Sasuke continued, a sad note in his voice as the wind carried it into the open field. It was like the small form next to him hoped they would not reach his ears.

For a while only the wind could be heard as it blew over the tall grass, through the leaves and over the few boulders in the field. It was like the silence made his thoughts echo in his head. It was too much for him.

Suddenly he couldn't take it any longer. Tears welled up in his blue eyes and he felt them glide down his cheeks as he blinked, his eyelashes slowly turning heavy from the tears.

"It's not fair," he said sadly into the open field. "I don't understand it."

"It's just a part of life. It's not always easy to accept, especially when… when it is ended so suddenly." Sasuke looked down sadly and saw the blue watery eyes stare into the distance.

The markings on his face slowly got wetter, and he bit his lip in sadness and pain. He heard Sasuke part his lips once more.

"Death is-"

The blue eyes suddenly looked up and his hair waved to all sides due to the wind, but the anger on his face was clear. "How could you just say that?!" he yelled angrily. "He didn't deserve to die! No one deserves to die! No one…" Sasuke placed a hand on his shoulder, but he roughly removed it. "How can you accept something like this?"

Sasuke looked down at the small boy in front of him, frail, skinny and pale. He was a mess and clearly not how he should be. He had let him mourn for a while now, but this had gone on long enough. He needed to get him back. The scar would always remain, but that didn't mean he had to succumb to his wounds.

"No one can just accept something like this. Itachi, when he died-" Sasuke started, but he was interrupted.

Blue eyes looked up at him, pleading him to help him. "I'm so confused," he said. "He didn't deserve to die. We'd been so close for so long. Why did he…" He sniffed and more tears welled up. "Why did he have to die? Why couldn't it have been me?"

Sasuke wrapped his arms around the small person beside him, who seemed to have shrunk a lot lately. He wasn't sure what to say.

All of a sudden they both looked around as yet another person was standing in the open field, right in front of them. Yellow hair almost lazily drifted in the wind, making it into a mess. For a long time the three of them looked at each other before finally the blond came closer and stopped in front of the other two, looking at them sadly.

Finally everything fell apart inside of him. He closed his blue eyes and gripped Sasuke's haori so tightly that the fabric might have torn. "Tou-san!" he screamed.

Sasuke moved his hand to the boy's head, stroking the red hair out of his wet face. The long red tail of the boy violently blew back and forth in the wind. Once Sasuke had removed the bright red hair, two black lines became visible on each cheek. They could have been whiskers like Naruto's, but their angle was more like-

"Itachi," Sasuke said once more, moving his 12-year old son so that he would look up to him. "You're going through something horrible that no one your age should go through." Sasuke's face hardened. "Losing someone…" He stopped himself.

The blond suddenly moved closer and smiled, to the surprises of the others. "You two worry way too much. You can be so alike in that matter." He waved his hand in front of his face. "Don't be so gloomy, sitting here in this bright and beautiful sun." Naruto straightened up again, spreading his hands. "The weather is good, this is a sign."

The red headed boy looked up to his other father. "But my best friend died," he sniffed, remembering the mission that had gone so horribly wrong. The tears just didn't stop from forming and he hiccupped.

"And he wants you to remember him, but not like this," Naruto said, his face serious all of a sudden, no longer smiling. "You should not remember his last days, you should celebrate his life. Go live yours, and then when it will be your time to go -in a very, very long time- you tell him of all the adventures you've been through. Make sure he misses none of it."

Itachi looked almost dumbfounded at his blond father.

Naruto looked down at the pale boy, usually looking so healthy and tanned. "Don't throw away your life. It's hard to loose someone, I know that, and I'm not telling you that you can't be sad, just be happy too. Happy that you had the chance to have met this wonderful friend."

Itachi didn't seem quite convinced yet, but Sasuke was still hugging him and the tears weren't forming that quickly anymore. "Hm," the boy said softly, closing his eyes while he gripped his father's haori once more.

"Listen to your stupid father. Every once in a while he actually says something that makes sense," Sasuke said softly.

Naruto's fox ear twitched in annoyance, but he didn't respond to it.

The blue eyed boy let his father lift him off the bolder onto the grass. He felt even more empty now as he stood there in the sun and wind, but this time it was because he was hungry. His stomach growled loudly and Naruto laughed. "Let's go get some ramen, I haven't been to Ichiraku's in ages."

Sasuke placed his hand on his son's shoulders and couldn't believe how much he had grown. His red fox tail, along with his same coloured long hair, wafted in the wind as he looked up to Sasuke. The blue eyes the same as Naruto's, the face the same shape as his own. Itachi in many ways resembled his namesake, yet there were enough differences to set them apart.

Sasuke peered up into the sky, the sun blinding him. It was such a different day from twelve years ago.

-x-

_A flash of lightning made him wake up; that in combination with Naruto's gaze at him. Sasuke blinked when again the lightning lit the entire room, followed by loud thunder and the strong wind blowing against the window. He saw the tree next to the window move violently, even hitting the window. Outside the streetlights flickered on and off._

_Sasuke felt the gaze directed at his face as he lay peacefully in the warm bed, safely inside, away from the bad weather. Slowly he turned his head to the side and opened his eyes. Blue eyes, blue damp eyes to be precise, were looking at him._

_Sasuke was surprised to see Naruto crying. Silently tears glided down his cheeks onto the bed when they had reached his chin. He wasn't sobbing; the tears just soundlessly flowed down his face._

_The raven furrowed his eyebrows, concerned something was wrong with his beautiful blond. "Naruto?" He asked softly and stretched out his hand to the whiskered cheeks. "What's wrong?"_

_Naruto bit his lip. "Nothing really," he said, trying to sound happy. "I just can't help myself."_

_The raven stared back into the watery blue eyes as Naruto sniffed and winced. Sasuke moved his hand to the wet cheeks. Mood swing?_

"_It's so stupid, I just wanted to watch you sleep for a bit longer…" Naruto lowered his eyes. _

_Mood swing. Sasuke saw no reason to cry over something like that, so his conclusion was quickly made. He moved closer to Naruto, who stopped him by placing his hand on Sasuke's bare chest. "This fucking hurts so much," the blond then said through gritted teeth._

_Sasuke froze. Naruto wasn't referring to not being able to see Sasuke sleep for a bit more. _

_Gently his thumb brushed away the glistering droplets on Naruto's soft cheek. Concern growing by the second as he had a vague idea of what might be going on. "You need Tsunade, don't you?" He had no idea why he was so calm. Perhaps it was because Naruto was too._

_Sasuke felt Naruto's hand groping under the blankets for his hand. It finally found it and squeezed very hard in it while he flinched. "Yes please," he whispered almost. "I think the baby wants to get out."_

_Hearing the words echo in his head Sasuke froze for a while, unable to move as his suspicions were confirmed. The hard reality didn't really want to settle in, but after a while he saw Naruto calmly open his eyes and smile at him. "Sasuke," Naruto said softly, his right hand moving over Sasuke's cheek and brushing his hair aside, "Now, please?"_

_His voice had been so calm, so gently that Sasuke had almost been caught in the spell, that was until it finally sunk in. Naruto was having the baby… now!_

_Sasuke got up and quickly grabbed some clothes. "Will you be okay?" he asked, turning back one last time while lightning made his profile stand out against the window. _

_Naruto slowly sat up, clutching his huge belly. He nodded, closing one eye against the bright light from outside. "Just hurry," he said softly._

_A bright flash of light along with a deep, roaring, loud thunder strike sounded while Sasuke turned around and once a new flash of the light cleared, Sasuke was gone._

_Naruto whined softly under his breath, both hands around his stomach. It was a strange feeling, the baby pushing to all sides. It wasn't like when it tried to move or turn around. It pressed hard against his skin, obviously trying to get out. When he lifted his shirt he could clearly see a small profile of a tiny foot in his skin, and felt the baby's head push hard against his ribs. It felt like it tried to stretch out._

_Slowly he shuffled closer to the edge of the bed and stood up, one hand on the headrest, one on his belly. Once he had straightened up he took a deep breath and started to move toward the staircase. When he passed the bedroom of their children, he heard their soft breathing, meaning they were both still asleep._

_Downstairs he slowly started walking circles in the room, rubbing his belly and wincing when it pushed hard against his insides. This was the worst he had felt during the entire pregnancy. He was relieved though, this wasn't nearly as bad as last time._

_Suddenly he stopped walking when a loud thunder clap made him startle. He moved closer to the window. The weather was crazy. He saw small branches and leaves on the road, puddles of rain never seeming to get smaller as the water had nowhere to go. Another flash was followed by a crack and he saw a branch of a tree a little further away come down to fall into the wires of a hydro pole. Right then the lights of the streets flickered one more time before their light was gone._

_Naruto looked around and saw that all the electricity was gone. "Great," he muttered and sat down on the couch while he felt how the child inside him picked him hard in the bladder. He groaned in pain._

_Soon he heard footsteps upstairs. A door opened, the small feet walked on, then another door opened and voices could be heard only by Naruto's keen fox ears. He turned them on his head and heard Akira mutter softly before Ren's small voice sounded._

"_Akira, I'm scared, can I come sleep with you?"_

_Naruto smiled. He heard some movement and understood Akira had held up the blankets to let his little sister so that she could get into his bed. "Alright," he said sleepily._

_Naruto groaned softly when he felt bile rise as a head was pushing against his stomach. "Hngg."_

_Then the front door opened. Rain was blown inside before the door was quickly closed. Sasuke stepped into the living room, completely drenched. "I'm sorry Naruto," he said, noticing the blond wincing on the couch._

_Naruto looked up, looking for Tsunade, but she wasn't there. "Where's…"_

"_She is gone, doing your Hokage duties as replacement. It's really crazy outside. The electricity went down and roofs are blown off. She's out to take care of things." Sasuke looked down at Naruto as he sat on the couch, both arms around his enormously round belly, looking up at him through slightly narrowed eyes. "I'm sorry."_

-x-

Sasuke was peacefully reading while he sat on the couch. He was enjoying a good book after a long day. He looked up when he all of a sudden noticed a certain blond had snuggled next to him and was watching him. Apparently he had been caught up so deep in his book that he hadn't even noticed Naruto had come to sit next to him. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and noticed Naruto's face was very close to his own. It grinned at him.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, looking back at his book.

"Nothing," Naruto answered and started massaging his shoulders.

Sasuke turned a page, and after a while another one. The hands kneading his shoulders felt good. He smiled when Naruto moved behind him, leaning forward when Naruto tried to squeeze behind him. He felt fingers move up his hairline every once in a while.

"Maybe you should work a little less," Naruto said while a soft purr sounded from him.

"Only if you don't send me on missions anymore," Sasuke said, keeping his eyes on his book. Goosebumps and a pleasant tingly sensation crawled up his scalp.

"I guess I shouldn't."

Naruto went on with his massage while Sasuke read. The massage felt very good, but when he felt a nose in his neck he couldn't prevent the hairs in his neck from standing up. It just felt so good, and a little ticklish, still he didn't look up and continued reading.

Naruto started to kiss his open and vulnerable neck. In the corner of his eyes, Sasuke noticed Naruto's fluffy tail swish back and forth behind the blond. When Naruto didn't receive the expected reaction, he moved his head back. He moved his legs up under Sasuke's arms and put his hands around Sasuke's chest, placing his chin on the raven's shoulder.

All Sasuke did was move his book away from Naruto's arms, turned his head to the side when Naruto placed his own head next to his and continued his reading.

Naruto pouted, not liking this reaction. "We are finally home alone after all those years. Akira working on creating his own family, Ren moving out recently, and Itachi is staying over at his friend's place. You don't want me?"

"Don't stop now," Sasuke then said, glancing over his book, which made Naruto pout. "I think I was enjoying it though." He tried to look at Naruto. "A lot. Maybe you should continue."

Naruto smiled and started kissing Sasuke again. Naruto's tail swept up his leg while his soft lips made a trail on his neck and continued over to his shoulder when his haori was lowered down his arm. Naruto's hands roamed further over his partly bared chest, as well as under his haori. Every now and then Naruto licked him and he could feel two long fangs graze his skin softly along with the soft tongue. Naruto moved his fingers over his chest until they encountered a nipple, and started to play with it while his other hand moved over Sasuke's well-trained body.

Just when Naruto was creating a hickey on his shoulder, his dark fox ear twitching in Sasuke's neck to try find a comfortable position, Sasuke finally lowered his book, unable to keep on reading. He couldn't keep his thoughts with it anymore, and he had enough of pretending, he needed to touch Naruto. He manoeuvred out of Naruto's grip, leaving a trail of saliva between Naruto's mouth and his shoulder while Naruto looked up both surprised and disappointed, before turning around and pinning Naruto against the couch. He attacked Naruto's lips, while his hands moved up through the blond spikes of hair, around the fox ears. Naruto's tail swept against his legs and behind while his hands moved over Sasuke's back, getting rid of the haori. He untied the obi as Sasuke continued to kiss him and push his tongue through his lips.

Finally Sasuke's chest was bare and Naruto threw the piece of clothing aside while he felt Sasuke lift up his sweater. Once their chests were bare Sasuke pushed Naruto sideways onto the couch where he started kissing the naked skin of Naruto's chest. Naruto moved his fingers through Sasuke's dark locks before wrapping his legs around Sasuke's lower back.

Sasuke then lowered himself on top of Naruto and buried his face in Naruto's neck, which tickled a little, but Naruto hummed softly in pleasure at this, leaning his head against Sasuke's. His purring hummed in his chest as they lay there like this. "You haven't lost your touch," Naruto purred in Sasuke's ear.

Sasuke grinned in his neck. "You thought I had?"

Naruto let out a soft breath that was also a laugh. "Maybe."

Sasuke then bucked his hips forward, against Naruto's crotch. "Maybe you should reconsider." He kept moving his hips until Naruto's cheeks turned red as he started to pant erotically in his ear. Then finally Sasuke lifted his head and lowered Naruto's pants before doing so with his own as well.

Naruto gasped when his half erection touched Sasuke's and turned his head to the side when Sasuke continued rocking his hips, making their erections rub against each other. The purring got louder as did the sounds Sasuke made. He moaned and groaned in Naruto's ear, making sure he heard it all. Naruto held Sasuke tightly in his arms as the pleasure inside his lower region grew.

Sasuke's hand keeping their erections close together, Sasuke's hair tickling his neck, Sasuke's erotic breathing hitting his skin, Sasuke's arousing moans vibrating into his four ears, Sasuke's presence hovering over him, Sasuke's hips moving toward his, Sasuke's legs wrapped around his, Sasuke's bodily heath heating up his own skin, Sasuke's whisper in his ear as he started to tell him arousing things, Sasuke's love for him, Sasuke's forehead moving against his shoulder abruptly, Sasuke's loud cry for him, Sasuke's cum spraying up his body, Sasuke's cramping muscles, Sasuke's erratic breath against his skin as he had his orgasm, Sasuke's body relaxing, Sasuke's hand on his erection, Sasuke's tender words telling him to come.

And so he did.

-x-

"_How do you feel?" Sasuke asked as he knelt down in front of a pained Naruto, clutching his stomach tightly._

_Naruto crunched up his nose, which said 'what's that for a stupid question?'. "Could be better." He held out his hand to Sasuke, who immediately took it. "So?"_

"_I can't take you outside," Sasuke said, "it's too dangerous." He placed his other hand on Naruto's belly. Then his eyebrows went up when he felt the baby's knee push hard against his hand. "Wow," he said softly. He looked up to Naruto as he realised what strength this little person inside him was using to get out, let alone how that must feel against your intestines. "I'll go get Saku-"_

_Naruto suddenly groaned softly, nearly squeezing Sasuke's hand in his grip, while gritting his teeth. "I think I might have a bruised rib," he wheezed softly._

_Sasuke let go of Naruto's belly and was about to turn around. "I'll go-" _

_A flash of lightning made him unable to see Naruto's face, but he could hear his voice saying a definite "no"._

"_But-," Sasuke protested, placing his free hand on top of Naruto's hand he was holding in his other hand._

"_Agh, you do it," Naruto begged, slipping off the couch onto hands and knees. "Aagh. Now, it needs to get out now!"_

_Sasuke lowered himself. Placing his hands on Naruto's shoulders. "I'm not a medic ninja, I can't do it."_

_Naruto looked up to him, tears streaming down his face. "It hurts too much." He groaned again before his right hand moved to his groin._

_Sasuke was about to stand up, not seeing any other way than to get Sakura when the tree in front of their house fell down, splitting in two. The branches hit the glass in the window and from the hall he heard the force had been too much for the front door to handle. Glass broke and wood cracked._

_When he looked down again at Naruto, who had his tail between his legs and his fox ears flat on his face, a hand suddenly shot at his throat. Nearly being choked by Naruto, Sasuke did not move. His eyes scanned Naruto as he still leant on hand and knees, his face lowered to the floor. Sweat mixed with tears was dripping off his face now, the little moonlight could still show him this. Naruto heaved heavily, and his hand tightened around Sasuke's throat before it loosened its grip. Sasuke could actually hear something break at that very moment. His eyes widened at hearing the loud and awful crack coming from Naruto._

_Naruto gasped as two ribs broke from the force of the baby pushing against it from the inside. _

"_What do you want me to do?" Sasuke asked finally, knowing full well what to do, but making sure Naruto understood that he was now prepared to help._

"_What was that?" A voice entered the room._

"_Look, the front door!"_

_Akira came around the corner, Ren in his arms, holding her arms securely around his neck. She seemed afraid. Akira's eyes widened when he saw the two on the floor. "Are you alright?"_

_Naruto let go of Sasuke's throat, and Sasuke immediately indicated them to leave. "Go back to bed," he said._

_However, Akira didn't move. He let Ren down onto the floor and quickly walked over to his father, looking down at the panting Naruto. "I think I can help."_

_Sasuke considered his son for a moment before looking down at Naruto who was wheezing something that sounded like "okay". The he turned to Ren, who stood with wide eyes watching the three._

_Akira sat down in front of Naruto, and together with Sasuke helped him to lean against the couch. Naruto grunted before he moved his head to look up. Akira backed up when instead of blue, red eyes stared back at him in combination with sharp, long fangs in the corners of Naruto's mouth. He actually whimpered softly when the lighting outside lit up Naruto's dark face._

_Sasuke squeezed Naruto's shoulder as he looked down at the transformation of his lover. Without saying anything he stood up and turned to Ren. "Let's get some candles," he told her. He quickly pulled his hand through Akira's hair, whispering 'it's okay' before walking over to a little Ren, who had made a small ball of herself in fear. He picked her up and moved to the kitchen. With a final look toward Naruto, who was obviously in so much pain that it hurt Sasuke to see him like this, he made Ren get some candles while he got some water and towels._

_Akira's hand shivered for a moment before he pulled Naruto's shirt up. Naruto looked up to his face. "Sorry," he said, "for scaring you"._

_Akira smiled weakly and looked down at Naruto's stomach. Before he placed his hand on it he watched how a foot was permanently visible, obviously pushing hard from the inside. Naruto's hand moved to the top of his belly, to his ribs. "They can't heal," he gasped. "It keeps pushing." He seemed to have difficulty breathing too._

_Akira nodded and his hands started to glow when he finally placed his hands on Naruto's skin. He tried to feel the position of the baby, which was actually quite easy to do. It's head was against Naruto's ribs, feet in his lower belly, an elbow more to the back and probably its backside down toward Naruto's sensitive private parts._

_Naruto's belly was damp from sweat and he panted erratically, while his eyes almost calmly followed Akira's movements. Another rib cracked, yet Naruto did no more than flinch while a small trail of blood tickled down his chin from the corner of his mouth._

_Akira heard the awful crack and looked up, but Naruto's hand prevented him from moving his hand away from Naruto's belly. "Keep going, I can handle it." He had dark rings under his eyes from pain, but even so, he managed to smile._

_Akira nodded and then Sasuke came back and handed him some water which Akira used to clean Naruto's belly. He then took a deep breath before focussing chakra in his hand like a knife. He knew what he had to do, and focused on concentrating chakra into his fingertip. He took a soft deep breath before he moved his finger over the top of Naruto's belly. He knew this wouldn't hurt Naruto too much since he numbed the skin with his chakra. _

"_Will you get some more towels?" Sasuke said to Ren when she peered around the corner from the kitchen. Making sure she was gone for a while, he turned back to Naruto and grabbed his hand as he watched Akira make a deep cut._

-x-

Ren sighed deeply when she turned to her silver haired friend. "Stop it, Satake," she ordered him, straightening her chuunin vest before turning to look the other way.

Again Sakumo chuckled, unable to help himself. Ren shot him an angry stare which only made him laugh louder. "Haha, I'm sorry Ren, but… you have to admit this is funny!"

"It's not!" Ren grunted, crossing her arms. "That girl broke my heart and you laugh about it. It hurts you know!"

Sakumo wiped away a tear rolling over his cheek before placing his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, I do feel sorry for you, but… you can see why it's funny though… right?"

"No, I cannot!" Ren said, standing up and walking away. Sakumo reached out for her and turned her back so that she faced him.

He stopped laughing and his face turned serious. The wind blew, ruffling up his askew hair as well as Ren's short hair. A long thin tail wafted in the wind behind her though. He looked up into her dark black eyes before wiping her two long blond locks, framing her face, out of her angry eyes. "I'm sorry Ren, I really am." She was almost as tall as he was. "You couldn't prevented this from happening. She was just not meant to be."

Ren looked away without turning her head. Her pale cheeks turned a soft pink. "Maybe."

Sakumo pressed her against his chest and stroked her hair. "Of course… any girl taking you for a boy, and only finding out you are a girl when you say you will join her in the female side of the onsen, is a stupid-"

Ren angrily slapped Sakumo on the face and turned away, striding off. "I hate you!"

Sakumo couldn't help but laugh through the pain that stung his face. He might have lost a tooth there, but it had been totally worth it. This was the second time Ren had been mistaken for a boy, while she had not purposely led them to think so. He remembered the boy she had dated first, and who had completely turned her down after he had tried to undress her and found out she had breasts, no matter how flat-chested she was.

Ren just had the unfortunate appearance of looking either like a handsome boy with feminine character traits of a cool girl that acted rather tom boyishly. That she covered up her feminine shape with her chuunin vest and haori might not be such a good idea if she did not like to be mistaken for a boy. However, Sakumo had a feeling she did it on purpose.

He straightened up and sprinted after her, jumping up the roofs and chasing her. He had expected her to go to her small apartment, which she shared with him, but instead she took a left turn. This took him off balance, and he nearly fell before he swiftly spun around in the air and changed his direction.

He was not able to catch up with her until she had reached her destination. He landed in the beautiful and big garden of her parent's house and followed her inside through the open doors. Ren's little brother, Itachi, rushed past him toward the garden, his red fox tail swishing behind him. "Hey Saku-nii," he said in his passing.

"Itachi-kun," Sakumo greeted back before he held up his hand in greeting to the rest of the family present. "Sasuke, Naruto," he said.

On the ground at the round table sat Naruto hunched over a stack of papers with his hands in his hair before he looked up. Sasuke sat beside him, holding some of the papers in his hand while he was watching Ren sit down next to him.

"Sakumo-kun," Naruto said in surprise. Then he frowned. "Did the two of you have another fight? I told you to-"

"No, papa," Ren said, "besides, you have absolutely nothing to say when it comes to fighting with your friends." she glared at him and Sasuke.

Sasuke grinned at this while Naruto huffed and turned to the kids. "Alright, fine, so then what's wrong?"

"We had a fight," Ren said, crossing her arms, glaring at Sakumo. "Why did you follow me?"

Sakumo sat down opposite her and looked from her to Sasuke and Naruto. "I shouldn't have laughed at you," he then finally said.

Ren's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as this was his third time apologizing. She huffed and looked away. "Tell him to leave, otou-chan," she told Sasuke.

"Get out," Sasuke immediately said.

It was silent for a moment in which Sakumo wasn't quite sure yet to follow the order or stubbornly stay, before Naruto waved his hand at him, telling him he had no reason to leave. "Sasuke, maybe we should listen to what they have to say first."

"No," Sasuke said. "Ren wants him out, then out he goes. I never really liked the boy anyway." He glared at Sakumo.

This time Sakumo did feel like leaving, even after having been threatened like this for many years, he still never got used to it. "Sasuke…san," he started softly, "it's not what you think it is."

"Did you touch her again?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes.

Sakumo shook his head vigorously. "No, sir!"

Naruto elbowed Sasuke, but missed when Sasuke grabbed his arm before it could hit. They had a little staring contest before Sasuke let go of him. Then Naruto opened his mouth. "Stop it! Sakumo is a good boy, you know it. Stop testing him." He kept staring at Sasuke until the raven finally gave in.

Sasuke sat back and turned to Ren, placing his hand on her thigh. "What's wrong Ren?" he asked.

Ren bit her lip while her face turned grim. "I got dumped again," she muttered.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged looks before Sasuke stroked his hand comfortingly over her leg. "It will be alright," he said.

Then Ren sighed deeply and lowered her head. "No otou-chan," she said. "It won't." She glanced up at Sakumo for a moment, giving him an angry stare to make sure he wasn't going to start laughing again. "She thought I was a boy."

"She?" Naruto asked surprised.

"Tell me her name and I will-"

"It's okay, otou-chan, that's not necessary," Ren calmed her father. She leant over to him and put her head against his shoulder.

"You're still young," Naruto said. "Look at your brother. He just finally realised who he should be with." Naruto's lip quivered. "I still can't believe they just got married." Sasuke suddenly was awfully quiet while his face showed how proud he was of his son.

"But Aki-nii was a fool for not figuring out that his spouse had been by his side almost his entire life." She shook her head. "He might be sensitive and considerate, but when it comes to receiving love from others he is absolutely blind. Everybody knew he and Akane were meant to be."

Sasuke did not seem to agree with Ren's words. "You're wrong, he was careful and made sure they were meant to be before acting upon anything."

Ren ignored this and instead stood up. "Enough of this, I'm hungry." She went to the kitchen to get something to eat.

"Sasuke, you forgot to tell your daughter something," Naruto said, burying himself in his paperwork again.

"I don't need to tell her, she's smart." Sasuke turned his dark eyes to Sakumo. "Is Kakashi home?"

Sakumo shrugged. "I think he is."

Sasuke nodded before he stood up. "I need to have a word with him." He leant over to kiss Naruto on the cheek before walking off.

As Sasuke stepped into the garden to leave the house, Naruto leant forward over his work toward Sakumo and whispered softly, making sure even Ren wouldn't hear it. "Since when has she been dating this… girl?"

Sakumo shrugged. "I guess about three months ago." He then leant forward. "You didn't know?" The look on Naruto's face was enough to say that he didn't. "Oh." Sakumo awkwardly fiddled with his green vest while looking around the room.

There wasn't much in the room, there never had been more than the low table, the couch, a coffee table, a bookshelf and a dresser. But over the years small additions had been made. On the dresser was a fruit bowl standing next to a family photo that had been made only couple of years ago. Some photo albums were stacked up on the bookcase and some new plants were scattered through the living room.

Naruto sighed softly before he put his signature on some papers he had read. "You two should come over more often," he said. "Sasuke is really missing seeing you." Naruto looked up at a surprised Sakumo. "Yes, even you. You're practically family. Sasuke might be a bit… strict on you at times, but he means well. He thinks you're a great shinobi."

Sakumo didn't know what to say, so he didn't. Then Ren got back and sat down next to him, putting a bowl with freshly cut fruit on the table and laying down three forks. Naruto looked at the bowl placed on his papers before he let it go. Ren handed Sakumo a fork before she started to prick fruit from the bowl.

"We could stay over tonight. I forgot to do groceries so we have no food to eat anyway." Ren grinned at Sakumo, who turned to her.

"I told you to-"

"I forgot. My girlfriend just broke up with me, give me a break." Ren put some more fruit in her mouth.

"Oh, that's okay," Naruto said. "Akira and Akane were planning to come over too." Naruto smiled widely. "Yay, everyone will be here."

Sakumo grinned and finally decided to start eating as well. "Great."

-x-

_Naruto cried in pain as Akira moved his small hands around the baby inside his belly, trying to get it out while Sasuke whispered soft comforting words to Naruto. Sasuke held open the incision while Akira did his best to get the baby out as smoothly and quickly as possible. The baby moved violently before it seemed to realise what was going on and relaxed._

_Naruto gasped for air while the baby was pulled out, and then a loud crying started. Sasuke let go of Naruto and quickly wrapped the baby in towels while Akira moved back to Naruto, making sure he was alright._

_Naruto panted, but the pain on his face soon slipped away now that the baby was out. He was shaking and sweat was still dripping down his face, but at least now the healing could start. Akira closed the incision carefully, making sure the peritoneum wouldn't get infected or cause for problems before healing the wound completely. It was as if the cut had never been there._

_Finally Akira could look around, his hands covered in blood, but that didn't matter, for there was his new baby brother. Sasuke had cleaned it up and showed the small baby boy at the other two. "Look Naruto, we have another son."_

_Naruto's hand, shaking, reached out for the baby. "He has…" Naruto said softly while the baby kept crying._

"_A tail," Sasuke said softly as the still bloodied red tail hung down between the baby boy's legs. _

"_No," Naruto said weakly. Then he smiled. "He has your face." He lowered his hand and closed his eyes. _

_Sasuke handed Akira his new brother and cleaned Naruto up before he helped him onto the couch. Once he was laying down Naruto showed a weak smile and closed his eyes. "Everything is alright," he mumbled softly before he drifted off. _

_Sasuke knew he needed to heal up, and sleeping was what helped best. He stared down at Naruto while outside the weather was still raging. He stroked his hand through the wet blond hair before he moved over to Akira._

_He knelt down in front of his son and carefully took the baby from him before he pulled Akira into a hug. "You did wonderful, I don't know what I should have done without you."_

_Akira smiled at this before he kissed Sasuke on the cheek, which made him look up. "But tou-chan, I'm a medic ninja," Akira said proudly._

_Sasuke smiled back while he rocked the baby in his arms carefully, trying to make him calm down. "Will you get your sister?" he asked and so Akira went to get Ren, who was sitting in the corner of the kitchen with her hands covering her ears. _

_She looked up at him when he rounded the corner and lowered her hands. "Akira?"_

_Akira smiled at her and helped her up. "Do you want to see our new baby brother?"_

_Ren's eyes widened before she quickly hurried behind Akira into the living room where Sasuke had managed to hush the baby some. "Did the lightning free him from papa?" Ren asked in amazement, her eyes wide as she looked in admiration at the small wrinkled person in Sasuke's arms._

_Another thunderstruck sounded and Ren covered up her ears again. Sasuke let the three of them watch the small baby for a while longer before he put him down next to Naruto, for the baby too needed some rest. He tied the towel a bit tighter around the tiny body while he watched the small red tail twitch once or twice as it stuck out of the made-up blanket. He studied the tiny face, seeing the two markings on his cheeks like two whiskers, but closer to the nose. It was familiar, a mix between Naruto's facial markings and those of his brother. A tuft of dark blond hair stood on top of the baby's head._

"_Naruto," Sasuke whispered to his lover, and two blue eyes opened to look back at him, "our family is complete."_

-x-

Naruto sat between the high grass, which tickled his left fox ear, so he kept twitching it every time the grass blew into his soft black ear. His tail swiftly swept over the ground behind him, playing with the grass. He looked down from his higher position on the small hill toward the company down in the garden, laughing and talking.

For some reason after dinner some kind of get-together had happened, though Naruto wasn't sure how it had come this far. There was Kakashi, standing talking with Itachi. Itachi's similar tail as his own slowly moved back and forth before he laughed at something, showing the same smile as Naruto. Itachi was a very quiet boy, and kind too, but when it became to being a ninja he was a lot like Naruto. He could study, that wasn't his weakness, but the practical classes had never been his best thing. Yet he had conviction and perseverance. He believed he would be a good ninja, and wanted to help protect not only his family and friends, but the rest of the village as well. He was smart and in ways understood the world better than even he did, and he would do anything to reach his goal.

Naruto stared at his youngest son for a while longer. His long red hair had been braided. Itachi's hair reminded Naruto of his mother's hair, the colour of the Uzumaki. It had been a dark blond when he had been born, but within a couple of months it had turned more and more red until it was the dark red it had now. Though he was timid he could still be a bit of a carefree kid after all; for example when it concerned his fox tail. Maybe it was because he had grown up with it, or maybe he was just a kind person like that, but he never seemed to have had any trouble having it. In fact he had turned it into something that made him able to make friends fairly easily. He didn't mind to talk about his tail with strangers at all, and often brought it up himself. Maybe this was also why Itachi had so many friends.

His old sensei, Kakashi, rubbed his hand over his ever present mask before he eyed his daughter, sitting on the porch next to Sakura and Kiku. Aiko was a unique child, she had the same colour purple hair as her mother, but it was tied into a long ponytail while two small locks framed her face. Her eyes were like those of Kakashi, narrow with dark irisses. She laughed loudly, her voice almost like the cry of a wild animal, but she didn't care. She was a confident and carefree girl, she stood her own and wasn't easy to mess with.

Next to Aiko sat Kiku, she could get on with her mother perfectly, but there were times they were just too alike and that could give some conflict and loud conflicts since both she and Sakura could yell quite loudly. Kiku's hair was darker than Sakura's bright pink and reached till her shoulders, making her resemble Sakura when she was younger, except that Kiku's hair was more straight like Sai's. Her skin the same pale colour as her father's and dark green eyes that could fairly easily swoon the boys in her class along with her ability to charm people into doing what she wanted to be done.

Sai had always said he would like some more children, maybe 7 or 8, but Sakura had always believed one was good enough. Although Naruto knew that the real reason was that after a certain ANBU mission Sakura had no longer been able to get any children.

Then suddenly Kiku closed her eyes and proudly puffed her big breasts, especially for such a young girl, forward (must have come from Sai's side of the family) and hit her fist on her chest. She was younger than Aiko but they got along perfectly. They were quite similar, bold and saying whatever was on their minds. She put her other hand on her hip and swore how she would do the dishes the rest of the week, Sakura stared at her impressed. "That's my girl!" she said, making a fist of her hand.

Sakura's partner, Sai, sat to the left on his haunches next to the pond, where Sakumo and Ren were too, along with Anko. Sakumo was trying to push Ren into the water while Anko cheered him on. Ren was giving Sakumo a good fight though, so he had difficulty trying to execute his plan. He had his arms wrapped all around her, but she seemed to be able to wiggle out every time, though Sakumo never let her get free either. The two had always been a good match for each other. Sai was observing the best friends, maybe wondering who he should help. Naruto wasn't worried about his daughter at all. She and Sakumo had always played around a lot, even till this day.

Inside the house he could hear sounds coming from a conversation Akane and Akira were having, though he couldn't make out any words. For some reason they had been holding back all evening.

Suddenly Naruto looked up as Sasuke sat down next to him, looking down as well. "You still thinking of what the Daimyou said?" he asked.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke. "No? Why should I?"

Sasuke smirked before he looked away. They sat in silence for some time until Naruto leant back, while trying to slap the annoying grass away from his ear. "Sasuke?" Sasuke turned his head to the blond. "We're really lucky, aren't we?"

Sasuke stared at Naruto and his sudden revelation, but waited for the rest to come before he spoke.

"Everything turned out fine. Akira is married and a great medical ninja. Ren is healthy now that her seal is stable and has grown into a fine young lady, and Itachi is growing to be a fine leader now that he's doing much better. I hope he won't feel responsible for his friend's death much longer." Naruto stared down at Itachi, still looking thin and a bit pale, but much more livelier than he had a couple of days ago.

"He'll be okay. He might be gentle and caring, but he's also strong and stubborn," Sasuke said.

Naruto grinned. "Yeah, he has that from his father." He turned to Sasuke, showing the smile on his face.

Sasuke, however, didn't respond to the joke at all, so Naruto continued talking, although sounding somewhat disappointed. "It's sad though that Tsunade can't be here."

Sasuke glanced over to Naruto but again said nothing. Instead he moved his hand over Naruto's arm, knowing how difficult this was for him. "Sasuke?" Naruto then asked once more, leaning against Sasuke's shoulder, looking up at him while his ear tickled Sasuke's neck. Sasuke looked down at him. "Shall we take a walk through the woods later on tonight? I want to be alone with you for a while."

Sasuke smiled and looked for Naruto's hand. "What do you think?"

Naruto twitched his tail against Sasuke's back before he heard Akira and Akane coming up to them. They were holding hands as they came walking up to them. Then Akira knelt down in front of them, and Akane did too. It was amazing how much Akira still always resembled Sasuke till this very day. Aside from the locks that framed Sasuke's face but did not frame Akira's face and the green colour of Akira's eyes, the two could almost be copies.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at the two, seeing how Akira seemed a bit nervous before he turned to Sasuke. "We uh… we have to tell you something." Akane reached for Akira's hand while she smiled brightly, stroking her hair behind her ear.

In the short silence that followed Sasuke's eyes widened as he already saw what was about to be said. Naruto however had no clue. "Hm?" he asked.

"You're…" Sasuke said, turning to Akane before looking back to Akira for confirmation.

Akira smiled nervously. "You're going to be a grandfather soon." He looked over to Akane, who was still smiling brightly.

"H… How long have you known?" Sasuke asked, stammering a little, not sure how to respond.

Naruto leant closer to Sasuke as he finally realised what was going on and grinned widely. "Congratulations," he told the two. He put his arm around Sasuke and swayed together with him for a bit.

"We wanted you to know first," Akane said. "Beside my mother that is." Her red eyes hovered over Akira.

Then suddenly Akira leant over to Sasuke and hugged him, throwing an arm around Naruto as well. Without saying anything he moved away again and stood up before holding out his hand to his wife. Together with Akane they moved away from the hill. "We'll be going home." They waved goodbye and left.

Naruto couldn't stop grinning while Sasuke needed to process the news.

Soon everyone had left except for Ren, Sakumo and Itachi. Ren and Sakumo stood side by side at the corner of the house while Naruto, Sasuke and Itachi stood in front of them as they were saying good bye.

"We have an early mission tomorrow," Sakumo said, straightening his chuunin vest. "Going to help some Kumo ninja."

"Oh, are you?" Naruto asked. "That's great."

"Might take some weeks this mission, so try not to worry too much, okay?" Ren asked while she played with a lock of hair.

"You've grown into a fine kunoichi, why should I?" Naruto grinned before he looked up at Sasuke. "Oh, Ren, did you clean up the seal? You have to do so before you go."

Ren rolled her eyes. "Papa," she said. "I know, I know. Sakumo will help me with it later, okay?"

Naruto nodded contently. "Alright. Just don't forget, we don't want you to get sick on your mission."

"I know, I know." Ren turned to Itachi instead. "Let's go practice again when I get back, okay?" Her dark eyes sparkled.

Itachi smiled. "Sure." His tail swept back and forth happily.

Ren put her hand on his head. "You look pale and thin, you should eat more." She let go before turning around and waving goodbye. "Ja na!" Sakumo followed her to their apartment.

"Still up for that stroll?" Naruto asked Sasuke, who looked down at the blond.

"Sure." Sasuke looked down at Itachi. "You want to come along?"

Itachi shook his head. "No, I think I'll go to bed."

Naruto ruffled Itachi's red hair. "Yeah, you do that."

Itachi moved Naruto's hands away before he went inside, already yawning. Sasuke started to walk off and Naruto quickly followed him, his deep red haori swaying behind him. Once inside the forest Sasuke took Naruto's hand, which made Naruto look up at him, but Sasuke was only looking in front. Naruto swayed his tail and placed his head against Sasuke's arm before he softly started to purr. "The forest is nice this time a year."

As if he had spoken some kind of code, Sasuke stopped and turned to face Naruto, placed his hands on his face and lowered so that he could kiss him. Naruto lowered his ears and accepted the kiss, moving his own hands onto Sasuke's upper arms while he moved up on his toes.

Sasuke's right hand lowered over his face to his neck while the left hand moved into his hair. Naruto moved his arms around Sasuke's back, one over his shoulder blades, one over his buttocks. Sasuke then rested his forehead against Naruto's to catch some breath while his right hand played with the hairs in Naruto's neck, which felt very nice.

All of a sudden Naruto moved away from Sasuke, who dropped his hands, and they both stood side by side when an ANBU landed on the forest floor. "Hokage-sama," the bird masked man said.

Naruto looked down upon the kneeling man. "Tori, what is it?"

The ANBU looked up. "We have urgent news from the land of Grass… There's a war about to start. They need your aid."

Naruto turned to Sasuke. "Are you up for the next challenge?"

Sasuke looked down at Naruto. "I'm going to be a grandfather soon… compared to that nothing is a challenge."

Naruto laughed and turned back to the ANBU man. "Gather everyone in the strategy chamber. Konoha will prevent any war from happening!"

The ANBU disappeared in a whiff of smoke. Naruto turned to look up at Sasuke when he pulled Naruto closer. "You're so hot when you get fired up for work."

"Too bad that it can't wait." Naruto kissed Sasuke tenderly for several seconds before he was gone in a flash.

"Yes, too bad," Sasuke muttered softly, but he was smirking nonetheless.

**The End**

-oXo-

A/N: I know, I know, I'm sorry… but it had to end… and there were getting too many OCs (I myself usually don't like reading about OCs …). So there… I guess I still cannot write descend endings though… sigh… I apologize for that.


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